A flutist played a concert during brain surgery at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston Tuesday. 
 
 Anna Marie Whitlock Henry, a professional flute player from Lubbock, was undergoing a deep brain stimulation procedure to reduce tremors in her head and hands. 
 
 Anna Marie Whitlock Henry played the flute while undergoing brain surgery at Memorial Hermann Hospital. (Stephanie Whitfield photo) 
 
 Homer, Michelle 
 
 Anna says the condition runs in her family. 
 
 She had been dealing with tremors since childhood, but it started impacting her music significantly several years ago. 
 
 “I can fight it, but I’m tired of doing it. And it is getting worse. I know it’s a matter of either admitting I can’t do it anymore, or doing this [surgery] so that I can,” Anna said. 
 
 During deep brain stimulation procedures, doctors implant electrodes in the brain to try and control tremors. 
 
 The patient must be awake during surgery, so doctors can see the effects of the electrodes. 
 
 “It is brain surgery, but it’s a way we can really improve a patient’s life, quality of life, where otherwise they’re going to be on medications that may have a modest effect on improving their tremor,” said Dr. Albert Fenoy, neurosurgeon with the Mischer Neuroscience Institute at Memorial Hermann and UTHealth. 
 
 Ideally, surgeons see an immediate reduction in tremors in the operating room. 
 
 “I’m just very grateful there’s this opportunity to do something about it that my father never had,” said Anna. 
 
 Deep brain stimulation is primarily used to reduce symptoms for patients with Parkinson’s Disease and tremors. However, the procedure is currently being tested to help people battling depression. 
 
 © 2018 KHOU 

 
 
 CTVNews.ca Staff 
 
 
 
 
 
 It wasn’t a typical stage or her regular audience, but a professional musician still managed to play one of her favourite concertos on a flute while she was lying on an operating table undergoing brain surgery. 
 
 Anna Henry, from Lubbock, Tex., had been suffering from tremors since childhood. It’s a condition she said runs in her family, according to local media. A few years ago, the trembling worsened to the point where the now 63-year-old flutist’s left hand and fingers shook so badly it impacted her ability to write and play her instrument. 
 
 In the hopes of reducing the tremors, Henry underwent brain surgery at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, Tex. on Tuesday. 
 
 In a procedure called deep brain stimulation, surgeons implanted tiny electrodes into Henry’s brain that deliver a constant electric current to control the tremors. 
 
 Henry was required to be awake for the procedure so doctors could tell if the stimulation was effective. 
 
 The surgery appeared to be a success because Henry managed to hold her flute and play a song while she was still lying on the operating table. Following the concert, the doctors and nurses inside the operating room broke out in applause.
– To be a professional flute player with uncontrollable shaking of the head and hands is less than ideal, and after years of battling a neurological disorder called essential tremor, Anna Marie Whitlock Henry decided she'd had enough. So the 63-year-old underwent brain surgery last week to remedy the tremors—and she played her flute throughout the surgery. KHOU reports Henry on Tuesday underwent deep brain stimulation, a procedure in which electrodes are placed in certain parts of a patient's brain to emit electrical impulses to counter any abnormal impulses. TMC News notes it's been FDA-approved for not only essential tremor, but also for treating Parkinson's, OCD, and dystonia, a muscle movement disorder. For doctors to be able to see if Henry's surgery was working, however, she had to stay awake during the surgery to perform certain tasks. Henry says she inherited her condition from her dad and started experiencing symptoms in junior high. Everyday actions like writing and sewing soon became difficult, and meds stopped working, but for Henry, the most devastating effect was on her flute playing. "It was frustrating to see that [control] disappear gradually," she says. As for whether Henry's surgery worked, TMC says it was "like flipping a switch": After the procedure, she now has handwriting that's readable for "the first time in decades," and her OR flute performance proved she's able to once again show off her musical talents. CTV News has video of Henry's cranial concerto, after which medical staff in the operating room gave her a rousing round of applause and cheers. Check out TMC News for a full description of Henry's surgery. (In Kenya, the wrong patient's brain was operated on.)