A 28-year-old man consulted because of seizures. Brain MRI showed a tumor in the left frontal area, most likely a low grade glioma. A glioma is a type of tumor that arises within the brain. Because the tumor was located near the speech area, an awake craniotomy was performed. 

During awake craniotomy, the patient is awake so that “mapping” can be done to identify the speech area and prevent damage to it. In this particular case, the speech area was found near the tumor but was not part of the tumor, so the surgeon was able to remove the entire tumor without injury to the speech area. After the surgery, the patient had some word-finding difficulties that improved after a few days. 

The biopsy result was a low grade glioma. The patient has remained well and tumor-free after 2 years of follow-up.