Parkinson’s patient plays clarinet during brain surgery | UK News

A Parkinson’s patient played the clarinet while undergoing surgery, allowing doctors to see, and hear, immediate results.

Denise Bacon, 65, showed instant improvement in her finger movements as surgeons stimulated her brain with an electrical current.

The retired speech and language therapist, from Crowborough, East Sussex, underwent deep brain stimulation (DBS) after suffering Parkinson’s symptoms, in a four-hour operation at London’s King’s College Hospital

These symptoms included slowness of movement, rigidity and muscle stiffness.

She had been diagnosed in 2014 and it has impacted her ability to walk, swim, dance and play her clarinet.

But the operation led to instant improvements in her fingers, which allowed her to play the clarinet easily.

Ms Bacon underwent a four-hour operation at King’s College Hospital, where surgeons performed DBS to relieve the symptoms while she was awake.

‘I’m already experiencing improvements’

DBS, which is suitable for patients with disorders like Parkinson’s, is a surgical procedure that allows that uses electrodes implanted in the brain.

Ms Bacon, who played clarinet in the East Grinstead Concert Band up until five years ago but gave up because of her symptoms, was given a local anaesthetic to numb her scalp and skull.

She said: “I remember my right hand being able to move with much more ease once the stimulation was applied, and this in turn improved my ability to play the clarinet, which I was delighted with.

“I’m already experiencing improvements in my ability to walk, and I’m keen to get back in the swimming pool, and on the dance floor to see if my abilities have improved there.”

‘Holes half the size of a five pence piece’

Keyoumars Ashkan, a professor of neurosurgery who performed the procedure, said: “Holes half the size of a five pence piece were made in Denise’s skull after a frame with precise co-ordinates was placed on Denise’s head, acting as a sat nav to guide us to the correct positions within the brain to implant the electrode.

“Once the electrodes were in place on the left side of Denise’s brain, the current was switched on and an immediate improvement was noted in hand movements on her right side.

“The same happened on her left side when we implanted electrodes on the right side of her brain.

“As a keen clarinettist, it was suggested Denise bring her clarinet into the operating theatre to see whether the procedure would improve her ability to play, which was one of Denise’s main goals for the surgery.

“We were delighted to see an instant improvement in her hand movements, and therefore her ability to play, once stimulation was delivered to the brain.”