Indirect Evidence of Increased Cerebral Plasticity of Musicians with Malignant Cerebral Tumors; Longer Overall Survival Status according to Nonmusicians

Abstract

Background There are some reported musicians with cerebral tumors, but no comparative study of the survival status of musician and nonmusician patients with malignant cerebral tumors was made. This subject was investigated. Material and methods Musician people list with cerebral tumors was searched from the English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_brain_tumors). Their survival status, ages, and gender were statistically compared with 30 nonmusician patients with cerebral malign tumors. Results 66 (Group 1 or Musician Group; MG) musicians with malignant tumors list were found from Wikipedia. Survival times of only 47 musicians could be reached from Wikipedia. The mean Survival of this group is 20.06 months, however, it was 13.10 months non-musician group, and the difference of survival was statistically significant (p < 0.05), however, ages and gender were not. Conclusion There is an interaction between music and brain anatomic structures. Our study showed that the survival status of musicians and non-musician with malign cerebral tumors is not the same. This result may be dependent on the altered musician's brain or neuronal plasticity, and the response of the musician's brain's to malign tumor. More studies are needed.