Boy in Nimhans Bangalore undergoes brain surgery while humming songs in OT

Bangalore: In a first of its kind case,, a 16-year old underwent a brain surgery to get rid of epilepsy while he was awake and humming songs inside the operation theatre. Arvind Kumar, who is a talented aspiring musician, was suffering from epilepsy as a result of which he had constant seizures. An uncommon method of surgery was invented to get him rid of his disease while retaining his abilities to sing and compose music. Nimhans doctors used this unusual surgery technique by keeping Arvind awake by giving him local anesthesia. While Arvind's skull was drilled, he was asked to keep singing and listening to music in order to know which part of his brain was reactive when her heard music.This unique method helped the doctors to remove the problematic part of Arvind's brain while retaining the part which helped him understanding music. Arvind was on medication since age 5 after he was diagnosed with drug-resistant epilepsy.That was exactly the same time when Arvind had begun pursuing his career in music. He was on pills all the time but that too was of no use to him. He had constant seizures, even at times on the stage while performing. Arvind's father, Mohan Lal who is also a musician and teaches music in Sharjah was suggested by one of his students to take Arvind to Nimhans. The doctors at Nimhans gave his family a hope that Arvind's epilepsy could be treated with a surgery. But this was followed with a bad news.The doctors told Arvind and his family that there were chances that the problematic point in Arvind's brain could also be the source generating his musical abilities. Arvind, an aspiring violinist and vocalist saw his dream shattering after the doctors broke the news. He had gained recognition at local and state levels through music competitions. The doctors invented a new way to safeguard the portion of Arvind's brain that generated music.A whole musical set up was made in the operation theatre and Arvind was made to listen and recognize tunes.The part of brain responding to music was analyzed by a group of neuro physicians, neuro surgeons, a neuro radiologist and clinical psychologists. It was discovered that Arvind was suffering from localized epilepsy and removing the problematic area of the brain would get him rid of the disease without interfering with the rest of the areas of brain.But in this case the seizures Arvind went through were originating from the side of the skull which allows functions like hearing and music functions, told the doctor. A pen-and-paper test was conducted by doctors at Nimhans which showed that both sides of Arvind's both sides of the temporal bones strong due to his long association with music.Following the test, came the functional MRI test to measure the brain activity.Arvind, who thought this to be the toughest of all, was asked to imagine himself singing and recognize the melody etc. After all the tests were conducted, the operation began with slitting in a question mark shape on Arvind's skull which penetrated into four to five layers.While the surgery was taking place, Arvind was made to listen to music and recognize tunes.The parts that were reacting to music were preserved while the parts originating seizures were removed successfully. The surgery was conducted on September 25 after which Arvind has not got any seizures. " Whenever I would get a seizure, I used to feel as if someone was whispering in my ears. Now, I am free of those hallucinations and have begun my practice sessions just like before" said Arvind.Recalling his experience inside the operation theatre Arvind said, " I went into the OT room number 3 at 9.30 am. As I entered the room I felt a cold chill. I was not afraid, but I was certainly tense." I kept praying to my favourite god Krishna and goddess Devi. I knew my family outside was very anxious." Some kind of medicine was injected into my body through a needle on my right leg, between the toes." The next thing I was conscious of was the doctors drilling into my head to open the skull. I was irritated. And I was mighty tense. But then I knew they were doing it for me to get well. "But every now and then when the pain would become unbearable, I would tell the doctor and he would stop the process for five minutes before resuming again. The drilling continued for around 20 minutes''. A passionate musician, Arvind decided to go through the surgery despite the pain it was causing him. " Sometime toward the end, Dr Shanthala came into the room with a laptop, and placed two speakers close to me. "She played five songs and asked me to identify them. Of the five songs, I got three right. "Then there was a beat test when I was asked to name the beats and I cleared that too. After the music test I fell asleep. "I remember waking up in the lift and asking my father how the operation went. I felt it had lasted for almost 10 hours. He said everything was fine'', said Arvind.