A team of experts at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City recently administered a very rare, and their first, awake brain surgery in the Gulf, to remove a tumor that had developed in the patient's brain which was located near the cells which are responsible for vocalization and speech.

After various epileptic fits and investigations, the patient was admitted to the hospital. Also performed were a series of CT scans and MRIs of the brain, and these revealed a left frontal tumor in the brain area which takes care of speech.

A biopsy of the same revealed an astrocytoma, an "intermediate tumor between benign and malignant".

"The surgery for this 38-year-old patient was conditioned by the risk of a post-operative effect called aphasia, or the inability to speak. For that reason, it was indicated to do this procedure with the patient awake, in order to assess him while we do electrical stimulation on the region we wanted to remove, ensuring that no cells from the normal brain is removed", explained Dr Maher Mansour, Consultant Neurosurgeon, who performed the breakthrough surgery.

Doctors have confirmed that the patients tolerated the whole procedure, which lasted a total of 6 hours, very well and was "speaking and moving on the operating table after the last suture".