Christian Nolen is a professional guitarist, so when he was having issues with dexterity that affected his ability to play, he knew something was wrong. Sure enough, there was a tumor on the right frontal lobe of his brain. Ten days later, he underwent brain surgery and the surgeon had an odd request: Could Nolen be awake and play guitar during the procedure?
This type of surgery is called an awake craniotomy and is beneficial not only for confirming the type of tumor but also to ensure no harm is done to the patient while fully removing the tumor.
“When a tumor is involving or near a critical part of the brain — something that controls the ability to speak or understand language or move — we want to do the surgery awake to continually monitor the patient, so you know if you start to violate normal brain functions,” Ricardo Komotar, M.D., director of the brain tumor program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine told The New York Post.
Nolen was put under at the beginning and end of the two-hour-long procedure and awakened during a crucial part, where he played riffs from Deftones and System of a Down. “As we were finishing the case at the very back of the tumor, we noticed that his hand function started to decline,” said Komotar. “The tumor was touching and interfacing with the part of the brain that controls hand movement. Fortunately, we were able to remove the entire tumor and not injure his hand.”
Although he was open to the idea, Nolen didn't know awake craniotomies were real until faced with undergoing one. “I’d only really heard of procedures of that nature being done in shows and movies,” he said. “I felt like it was such a unique experience that I couldn’t pass up — especially with my motor skills being on the line.”
Watch a Florida WSVN segment about Nolen's experience, including footage of him playing Deftones while under the knife, above.