We are immensely grateful to the patients and families who share their stories with us in order to raise awareness of the issues around brain tumours.
This week James Hinnigan and Kelly Ann Alexander were featured in an informative feature about awake craniotomy, the procedure in which patients are woken part-way through surgery. Their stories are featured in the Metro.
Patients are given a general anaesthetic while part of their skull is removed and then woken up during the actual removal of the tumour. Most often performed when the tumour is close to the parts of the brain which control vision, movement, or speech, the technique helps to reduce the risk of damaging health tissue.
Patients are asked to perform a series of tests so the surgical team can access their speaking, reading and movement which, crucially, enables the surgeon to determine how much of the tumour can be safely removed without causing damage which would severely impact on the patient’s quality of life.