Surgeon uses drill to do brain surgery on conscious patient

Goodness thats crazy. I would never want to be awake for any surgery, nevermind brain surgery.

I don't know if I would or not, can't say unless I was in the situation and what my odds were if not having the surgery then.
I do know there are certain types of brain surgery where they need to have the patient alert but not sure if that is done with just local anestheisa or what. It does sound scarey to me and I hope I am never in the situation to have to make that decission.

Hello Mooch
What a brilliant doctor is all I have to say..the fact that he will do this and not standby and let someone die and go there and do surgeries for free is a true doctor and shows his humanity, despite the fact that he had to make due with the tool and no anasthetic for the patient..this is unreal but I do applaud him for his dedication and bravery..the patient must have had great confidence in him, and the poor soul, I hope they made it alright..wow this is really something Mooch. They say it is amazing what pain you can tolerate if you have to though.

Interestingly, once you get into the brain itself, there are no pain receptors on the brain. So much work is performed on people using thios method.
They use it sometimes on epileptics to control seizures and other involuntary responsed deemed unheathy to the point of severe danger.

now a days its hard to tell if a surgeon went to medical school or carpentry school,i recently had surgery on my arm and had a steel plate and 6 screws put in my arm,and i remember before they put me to sleep(thank god)for the surgery they had all kinds of tools ie:drills, saws, hammers,etc on a table next to me and i asked the doctor if he could add an addition to my house in his free time, at first he did'nt get what i was saying then he smiled and sure why not .....

Wow that is so bizarre - I couldnt be awake during an operation in a hospital with a doctor that had proper equipment never mind someone using a cordless drill

Thats one brave woman. I have to be put to sleep to have a tooth pulled. I can't stand pain. So if theres no anesthetist, then I'll wait until he finds one.

I wouldn't let a doctor use a drill from the hardware store on me.

That was one amazing incident. and i have to mention the mettle the doctor showed for performing the surgery. i dont know if it was rationale to perform a local anaesthesia for a brain surgery. I am a doctor myself but i have not specialised in surgery. but it is not so horrific in getting a surgery done under local anaesthesia . one common surgery done under local anaesthesia (spinal) is caesarean section. the mother is given a local and surgery is done and once the baby is delivered out the mother is shown the baby. this is very important for the mother which can bring immense relief to her. it is always better than general anaesthesia as general anaesthesia carries great risk in performing surgery and the patient can go into coma or cardiac arrest or shock even if the dose is within normal limits . I have seen people who are given general anaesthesia shedding tears during a surgery. i have asked my seniors the reason . they say that in a general anaesthesia you become paralysed temporarily and if the drug given has low pain killing effect, you actually sense the pain even if you are sedated and paralysed. so it is like hurting the helpless. in local anaesthesia you are aware of everything around you. can hear what the doctors speak, the progress of the surgery, the anaesthetist's enquiry on how you feel or do you have any discomfort or are you feeling any pain etc etc..if you feel a bit of pain the surgery will be stopped temporarily and will only continue after the analgesic of appropriate dose is administered. So in every sense surgery under local anaesthesia is the best. but you cannot demand that your surgery should be done under local anaesthesia because it depends on the patient health status, disease and the operation planned.

Well there's no way I'd do it without a qualified anesthesiologist present, that's for sure.

It's not uncommon to perform brain surgery while the patient is not totally put under, though. There are times they need to know whether what they are doing is interfering with brain function (speech, etc).

A heavy-duty local anesthetic is a given, I would think!

Oh wow, I don't think I could have, but it was obviously to save her life, so maybe she wasn't thinking at the time.. I do know that if my husband and daughter found out, they would be interested, and I may try to watch, but can't guarantee I can watch the whole operation..