Banjo master plays during brain surgery

BRAIN SURGERY: Eddie Adcock plays banjo as his brain is operated on.

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A bluegrass maestro whose career was being hampered by a hand tremor was asked to play his banjo during brain surgery, so surgeons could pinpoint the right part of the brain to work on.

Eddie Adcock, 70, endured agony to keep twanging his banjo during the procedure, in which surgeons prodded and inserted electrodes into his brain.

Adcock has been playing the banjo since he was a child and is renowned as an exponent of bluegrass. He formed a "dynamic duo" with his wife, Martha Adcock, the pair becoming known as the "biggest little band in Bluegrass", according Wikipedia.

But Martha recently noticed a deterioration in her husband's fast-picking style because of "mysterious shakes in his right hand", the Daily Mail said.

"When I first noticed, his skills were not the same and we were trying to figure out what was going on," she said.

"It was distressing because this has been his whole life."

Adcock was diagnosed with "essential tremor", an involuntary trembling that affects millions of people, the paper said,.

Surgeons at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville in the US, proposed a "deep brain stimulation" operation, in which electrodes placed in Adcock's brain would send electric impulses to suppress the nerve cells causing his tremors.

But to ensure they were placing the electrodes in the right spot, the surgeons kept Adcock awake with a local anaesthetic and asked him to keep plucking at his Deering GoodTime banjo, while prodding his brain through a hole in his skull, the Daily Mail said.

"When the surgeons found the right part of the brain, Adcock instantly regained his ability and was able to play at full speed once again," the paper said.

"The operation ended on a high note with a twang of lightning fast banjo picking."

Adcock told the paper: "I came up in music the hard way and learned to be a trouper fast.

"Some of those early days were pretty rough, and I've been stomped, cut and kicked; but I never went through hell like this - it was the most painful thing I've ever endured.

"And it was risky. But I did it for a reason: I'm looking forward to being able to play music the way I did years ago prior to getting this tremor. It means that much to me. I'm far from being done."

Doctor's yesterday declared the operation a success.

The electrodes are connected to a pacemaker implanted in Adcock's chest.

When electrodes are switched off Adcock struggles to draw shapes on paper, but with the pacemaker turned on, his finger picking skills are as good as ever, the Daily Mail said.

- © Fairfax NZ News