Indranil Chakraborty, MD, a neuroanesthesiologist at the teaching hospital, pitched the idea to a patient who had to be awake for a craniotomy during surgery.
Dr. Chakraborty used Apple’s video-chat app to calm the patient while surgeons attempted to remove a tumor the size of an orange that pressed on his brain this summer.
“We thought about why not let the patient at particular times talk to his family or her family waiting outside. That would give the patient a sense of reassurance and relaxation,” Dr. Chakraborty told KARK.com.
Dr. Chakraborty said the key to an awake craniotomy is to keep the patient calm. FaceTime did that for the patient, who video-chatted with his wife.
Three months after the surgery, the patient is fully functional, KARK.com reports.
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