FEATURE: Violinists plays during brain surgery
Minnesota Orchestra musician Roger Frisch underwent deep brain stimulation to fix essential tremors. Image: YouTube screenshot A concert violinist with tremors in their hand risks losing their entire career. Roger Frisch, a member of the Minnesota Orchestra, found himself in this position when he was diagnosed with essential tremors in 2009. In any other profession minor shaking would barely be noticed but, in Roger's line of work, it was devastating. After 40 years as a musician, Roger could no longer bow smoothly. After some convincing, he agreed to undergo deep brain stimulation at the Mayo Clinic Neural Engineering Lab to try to fix the problem. Deep brain stimulation is a technique used to aid people with Parkinson's disease, dystonia (neurological movement disorder) and essential tremors, as well as people suffering from OCD, major depression or chronic pain. Surgeons place electrodes inside the deepest parts of the brain and use electric pulses controlled by a pacemaker to modify neurological...