gms | German Medical Science

Objective: There is no review study for craniotomies of famous musicians in history. Goal of this paper is to show the interesting neurosurgical operations of famous musicians which help, to understand the feelings of neurosurgeons in that time, who had limited diagnostic and technical tools.

Methods: The key words were “neurosurgery and music” or “neurology and music” and the names of composers. We used digital catalogues like “pubmed”, contacted scientists from subjects such as medicine or musicology, as well as the libraries. We analysed the dates to the kind of disease, neurosurgical intervention, outcome and the effect on musical activity of the patient.

Results: We found the clinical case reports of four musicians from early 20^th century eras with different neurosurgical diseases: Maurice Ravel, George Gershwin, the female pianist Clara Haskil, and the jazz musician Pat Martino. These four musicians undergo neurosurgical procedure. The reason of Ravel´s fatal neurological disease is unknown. Gershwin suffered from a glioblastoma multiforme. Haskil was diagnosed with a suprasellar tumor. She became a successful pianist and Mozart specialist after tumor removal. She died on head trauma and intracranial hemorrhage after a fall in 1960. P. Martino suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage resulting from a cerebral arteriovenous malformation in left temporal lobe. He underwent surgery with complete removal of left temporal lobe after epilepsy associated with manic depression occurred, but no abnormalities in his musical capabilities. After surgery, he had a complete memory loss, also completely lost his musical capabilities including theory, technique, and skills, showing the expected effect of an extensive injury to the left temporal lobe. His musical capabilities completely recovered..

Conclusion: Two of these musicians leaded to the end of a musical career and their lives. In Haskil, the surgical procedure in 1942 was performed by awake craniotomy during she mentally played Mozart´s piano concerto E-flat Major KV 271. Brain surgery of Haskil may show the effect of Mozart´s music on the human brain in neurological rehabilitation. Martino´s musical abilities recovered over time, and he regained his previous virtuoso status. The surgery of Martino´s case demonstrates the possibility of cerebral plasticity and reorganization of professional musicians. Those unforgettable craniotomies of famous musicians show that neurosurgery is hard work. Its rewards and failures are great.