Awake brain surgery, or awake craniotomy, is one of the most complex procedures in modern medicine. To learn more about the work of neurosurgeons, Sean Thomas meets Igor Medyanik, a specialist who performs extraordinary operations to remove brain tumours.
During the procedure, the patient remains conscious, talking with the medical team and responding to instructions, while a neurolinguist stands by, observing. Olga Dragoy, Director of the Centre for Language and Brain, monitors the patient’s speech throughout the operation, helping to identify and preserve critical areas of the brain. If the patient stops speaking or begins mixing up words, it signals the surgeon to steer clear of that region.
What does the patient experience during such a surgery? And why is the surgical team often compared to a finely tuned orchestra?
