19-year-old girl wakes up during brain surgery, asks doctors ‘How’s it going?’
19-year-old girl wakes up during brain surgery, asks doctors Hows it going?
Iga Jasica, 19, of southwest Poland, woke up during a procedure to have a cancerous growth removed from her brain, The Daily Mirror reported.
A teenage girl in Poland woke up during brain surgery and asked her doctors how the operation was going, The Daily Mirror reported.
Iga Jasica, 19, had been undergoing the procedure to have a cancerous growth removed from her brain. Doctors say she woke up halfway through the surgery when the anesthetic wore off. Her brain was exposed, but surgeons say the southwest Polish girls health was not in jeopardy.
Despite coming round, she didnt feel anything and was never in danger, neurosurgeon Dawid Larysz told The Daily Mirror. He added that Jasica wouldnt have been able to see or feel anything. Jasica doesnt remember waking up during the surgery.
Doctors are investigating whether the anesthetic may have been improperly administered. Other experts told The Daily Mirror that the operation itself could have triggered her waking up despite the anesthetic.
While chatting with doctors during the procedure, Jasica reportedly brought up cats. After the surgery, she reflected on the experience.
I missed Christmas because of this operation, but it is the best present I could have had, as I am now feeling great, Jasica told The Daily Mirror when the procedure was complete.
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That must have been some experience!! May the rest of her life be a healthy one.
Woke up once during knee surgery - after "seeing" what was going on, promptly went back to sleep.
Oh crap, that is the last thing that I would want to happen to me.
I only woke up during surgery and felt the horrible pain..but couldn't communicate to the Dr.s that I was awake and could feel PAIN!!
Happens every time I go to the Dentist - I FEEL PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
( I was having Exploratory " surgery.) Pretty scary when you can't communicate with them...
Being awake during brain surgery is not so unusual. The great world-renowned neurosurgeon at the Montreal Neurological Institute, Dr. Wilder Penfield, did much experimental surgery that required the patients to be awake and relate what was going through their minds when probes were done at various points of the brain.
I think I read somewhere that the brain doesn't feel pain....or something like that...
Does the brain itself have pain receptors?
There are no pain receptors in the brain itself. But he meninges (coverings around the brain), periosteum (coverings on the bones), and the scalp all have pain receptors. Surgery can be done on the brain and technically the brain does not feel that pain.
With that said, the brain is the tool we use to detect pain. Lets say youre on the beach and you step on a sharp shell. Special pain receptors in your skin activate whenever there has been an injury, or even a potential injury, such as breaking the skin or causing a large indentation. Now, an impulse is heading through the nerve into the spinal cord, and eventually all the way to your brain. This happens within fractions of a second.
Your spinal cord is a complex array of nerves, transmitting all kinds of signals to and from the brain at any given time. The spinal cord is also in charge of your reflexes. The brain does not have to tell your foot to move away from the shell, because the spinal cord has already sent that message. The pain signal continues to the brain. This is because pain involves more than a simple stimulus and response. Your brain needs to make sense of what has happened. Pain gets catalogued in your brains library, and emotions become associated with stepping on that shell. When the pain signal reaches the brain it goes to the thalamus, which directs it to a few different areas for interpretations. Some areas in the cortex figure out where the pain came from and compare it to other kinds of pain with which is it familiar. Was it sharp? Did it hurt more than stepping on a tack? Have you ever stepped on a shell before, and if so was more or less painful?
Signals are also sent from the thalamus to the limbic system, which is the emotional center of the brain. Feelings are associated with every sensation you encounter, and each feeling generates a response. For example, your heart rate may increase, and you may break out into a sweat.
Thanks for the info Six!
ROFLOL !!! Good one!!
Nona,
My daughter studies the brain and says it doesn't feel pain. As Buzz pointed out, there are procedures that require the patient to be up. Themeninges does feel pain, but that is usually treated with a localanesthetic.
Thanks Perrie, I thought I remembered reading that somewhere.