Doctor Uses Cordless Drill to Perform Brain Surgery

Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh used a $65 Bosch drill to perform an emergency operation on a Ukrainian woman's head while traveling through her country. They had trouble finding an anesthetist so the woman was just given a local anesthetic and was conscious during the procedure. The BBC will air a show about the rather remarkable surgical procedure on March 30 and people in the US can read all about it in Time-Life Books Complete Home Improvement and Brain Surgery Manual.

Sounds familiar...

[cylcyl]

Wasn't this an episode of Grey's Anatomy last season?

Unremarkable

[hob42]

Considering they use the same essential technology in the OR - just drills that cost $10,000 each - and some kinds of brain surgery are routinely done under local anesthetic... this is less impressive to me than someone performing an emergency trach with a ball-point pen.

(Which they actually taught us about in nursing school, though I've forgotten the details by now.)