A violinist has undergone brain surgery while playing the instrument in order to ensure that doctors did not damage the part of her brain controlling delicate hand movement.

In a first for UK medicine, Dagmar Turner played scales and improvised tunes as surgeons at King's College Hospital in London removed a tumour from her right frontal lobe.

The 53-year-old Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra member had been anxious that the procedure could damage the area governing the delicate left hand movement responsible for the most intricate areas of violin performance.

She suggested to lead surgeon Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, an accomplished pianist, that he wake her from her general anaesthetic part of the way through her operation in order to let her play.

By that stage, the medical team had conducted a craniotomy – an opening of the skull – having spent two hours meticulously mapping her brain to identify precisely the parts of the lobe necessary for controlling the left hand.

In order to map precisely the area of the cortex necessary for violin playing, the surgical team inserted a tiny electrical probe. They activated it to see whether it disrupted Mrs Turner's ability to play, knowing they could remove tissue where its activation did not affect playing, and then repeated the process millimeter by millimeter.

Mrs Turner had also been fed a "pink drink" which meant that, when a blue light was shone on the cortex, the tumour – but not the surrounding tissue – showed up red.

The operation was a success, and three days later Mrs Turner was well enough to return home to her husband and son.

She was back to regular violin playing within two and a half weeks, and said: "The violin is my passion – I've been playing since I was 10 years old. The thought of losing my ability to play was heartbreaking but, being a musician himself, Professor Ashkan understood my concerns.

"He and the team at King's went out of their way to plan the operation, from mapping my brain to planning the position I needed to be in to play. Thanks to them, I'm hoping to be back with my orchestra very soon."