Brain surgery from alarm clock at “Garibaldi-Centro” sings songs of Mina

CATANIA – A brain surgery in awake surgery was performed at the Garibaldi-Centro hospital in Catania. The neurosurgical team led by prof. Giovanni Nicoletti removed a severe vascular malformative lesion in the language area from a 50-year-old patient, thanks also to the constant support of neuroradiologists, anesthetists and psychologists. Wake surgery is a neurosurgical technique that allows an awake patient to operate on the brain, offering the operator, after a careful preparation phase, the possibility of monitoring the subject during the course of the operation, through the establishment of a real comparison.

While the initial stages of the operation are performed under local anesthesia, immediately after the incision will be operated without using drugs, precisely because the brain does not have pain receptors. In this phase, therefore, the patient is awake, can speak, write and move the limbs. “At first glance – affirms Nicoletti – it all seems very simple, but in reality the preparatory phase of the patient is fundamental, which requires a precious collaboration during the intervention. In fact, numerous days of psychological exercise and tests are necessary. , able to understand if the subject is really a candidate for awake surgery “. During the surgery, however, there was no shortage of surprises, especially when the surgeons heard the patient sing some songs of Mina, creating a relaxing and collaborative atmosphere, which ended with a final thank you to the entire team and a joke about the experience just lived, even defined as “funny”. “We are proud – declared Fabrizio De Nicola, Arnas Garibaldi general manager – of the delicate intervention carried out by the team led by Prof. Nicoletti, who once again confirms the multidisciplinary vocation of our hospital company, distracted in no time by the events. linked to the pandemic and always on the subject of excellence and good health practices “.