Docs scoop out the tumour with iPods

London, Dec 18: Music heals is a known fact. Now hearing to music throughout the complicated brain tumour surgeries would help both patient as well as doctors. A British teenager, Gavin Brooke, listened to his iPod throughout a six-hour operation to have his brain tumour removed. In order to keep Brooke awake during the surgery doctors had to hook up youth's iPod to the operating theatre's sound system.

The surgeons had to keep Brooke, 18, awake so they knew they were not damaging his brain.
"It was important to keep him awake while I worked in a delicate area. The music kept him relaxed," Head neurosurgeon Andrew McEvoy said.

"The tumour was in a very difficult place that controls movement in his body and we had to ensure we didn't damage the surrounding area. A few millimetres too far could have paralysed him, so I let him listen to his iPod," he added.

To ensure the boy was not in pain doctors also kept talking to him all through the surgery.
"The music made the operation much easier to cope with and McEvoy talked to me all the way through," said Brooke.

ANI