Singer has throat op under hypnosis
Two months after delicate surgery to remove a tumour from her vocal cords, Alama Kante is ready to perform again
A PROFESSIONAL singer is ready to perform again, two months after doctors in France removed a tumour from her throat while she was under hypnosis.
In a world first, surgeons at the Henri-Mondor hospital, at Créteil near Paris, performed the operation to remove the tumour from her vocal cords while their patient was awake.
She had only a local anaesthetic to numb her throat during the delicate procedure.
Alama Kante, the niece of Guinean singer Mory Kante, even performed her song Tolong for the medics, allowing them to see how the procedure - to remove a parathyroid gland tumour - was progressing.
According to Gilles Dhonneur, the doctor who carried out the operation, the only way of knowing if her vocal cords had been protected was to get Miss Kante to sing during the procedure.
One slip of the scalpel could have damaged her voice permanently.
Ms Kante had been put into a trance by a hypnotist, and imagined she was on a trip to Africa.
Hypnosis has been recognised in anaesthesia since 1992, when it was used to help palliative care for the first time at a hospital in Liège.
In France, it is mainly used to help burn victims cope with acute pain.
Photo: Youtube / screengrab
