Woman plays flute while undergoing open brain surgery

Anna Henry's hand tremors are threatening to wreck her career

A patient has managed to play the flute in front of doctors while undergoing major brain surgery.

Anna Henry was wide awake while doctors operated on her at a Texas hospital in a bid to stop hand tremors which are threatening to wreck her career.

The professional flautist has suffered from a hereditary condition since childhood, which causes her head and hands to shake.

“I can fight it, but I’m tired of doing it. And it is getting worse. I know it’s a matter of either admitting I can’t do it anymore, or doing this so that I can,” Ms Henry told KHOU.

“You know what you can do, and you know what you feel, and you just can’t make your body do it anymore, and that’s really frustrating,” she added.

Doctors implanted electrodes into her brain in an attempt to control the tremors. But during the surgery, they needed to keep her awake to be able to see if the electrodes were working.

So she played the flute mid-surgery to test the effects.

In a recording, Ms Henry can be seen playing the instrument without any visible shaking, while doctors and nurses applaud once she finishes.

“It’s a way that we can really improve a patient’s life and their quality of life, where otherwise they’re going to be on medications that may just have a very modest effect on improving their tremor,” Albert Fenoy, neurosurgeon at the Mischer Neuroscience Institute at Memorial Hermann, told the news channel.

Deep brain stimulation is mainly used on sufferers of Parkinson’s disease and people with tremors, but it is also being tested on people suffering from depression.