Overcoming fear and anxiety during awake resection of brain tumours: family support can be pivotal to a successful outcome

Patient anxiety and fear about an awake craniotomy can affect the patient's choice about having an operation despite comprehensive pre-operative counselling. We report three cases in which a family member came into theatre during the procedure to support the patient during surgery. All three cases, which involved intra-operative cortical and subcortical stimulations and intra-operative patient testing, were successfully completed with major tumour resections and no post-operative complications. We suggest that family support should be considered in patients who have extreme fear and anxiety about awake surgery.