Do patients experience tastes during brain surgery?
In RoboCop (2014), RoboCop tastes something in his mouth during brain surgery.
It tastes like peanut butter.
He is not eating any food. The surgery creates the experience of a phantom taste. Does this happen in real life?
Best Answer
Roughly speaking, taste is captured in our mouth but the signals are interpreted by our brain. Since Murphy is awake while the doctor pokes his brain (if he is poking the Gustatory cortex) it is possible that he induced the sensation of a specific taste.
as mentioned by @Mazura, Neurosurgeons at the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Brain Tumor Center perform many brain tumor procedures while the patient is awake.
During surgery, the neurosurgeon will stimulate the area around the tumor with small electrodes. To precisely locate the functional areas of the brain that must be avoided, the neurosurgeon will ask the patient to perform tasks such as talking, counting and looking at pictures.
In the same way, the doctor could also ask the patient about taste and smell.
It seems that brain injuries or traumas can also cause changes in the sense of smell and taste.
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Do you feel anything during brain surgery?
As it sounds, when people undergo awake brain surgery \u2014 also known as an awake craniotomy \u2014 they are awake, at least for part of it. Even though the patient is conscious during surgery, they don't feel any pain. The brain doesn't have any pain receptors and a local anesthetic is used to numb the scalp.Are you aware during brain surgery?
Currently, most surgeons around the world conduct this surgery while the patient is awake. You read that right: It's considered standard clinical practice to keep a patient awake for the four to six hours it takes to implant electrodes into specific areas of the brain that control movement.Are patients usually awake during brain surgery?
You'll be sedated and sleepy while part of your skull is removed in the beginning of the surgery, and also when doctors reattach the skull at the end of the surgery. During the surgery, your anesthesiologist will stop administering the sedative medications and allow you to wake up.Why are patients conscious during brain surgery?
Stieg about her surgery in this episode of This Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg: \u201cAwake craniotomies give us the opportunity to map the brain, and thus avoid areas that are critical for normal speech function,\u201d says Dr.Why We Keep People Awake During Brain Surgery
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