Researchers of the Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group (Universitat de Barcelona and Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute –Idibel-), the Bellvitge University Hospital (HUB) in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona) and the Computer Vision Center (CVC) have achieved “for the first time“operate on a brain tumor without affecting to the patient’s ability to play chess.
Step by step
Before the operationthe experts combined mapping electrical stimulation to the awake patient with functional magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate different processes cognitive functions of the patient involved in the game of chess: visual search, rule retrieval and the ability to predict checkmate.
The scientists were able identify a point in the left supramarginal gyrus of the brain that results “clue” to retain the ability to play chess well. The feat was published this week in the magazine ‘cortex‘.
More details
Among other things, research has demonstrated the viability of these protocols to preserve higher cognitive abilities after brain tumor resection and “open the door to use protocols similar for the preservation of complex skills in future patients.
“We are used to doing these surgeries on demand, depending on the professions. and the hobbies of the patients. These operations have to be done with the patient awake and under local anesthesia to be able to identify language areas and areas that participate in chess moves“, has stated Andreu Gabarrosthe head of Neurosurgery at the hospital, to ‘Chain Being‘.
The HUB patientit should be noted, it is an amateur chess player with an ELO score of 1,950 that he had to undergo an operation to remove a brain tumor in the left parietal lobe and before her “expressed his desire to preserve his performance as chess player“.
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