Who would want to have their brain operated upon while awake? Probably not very many individuals, if they had a choice. So why are craniotomies performed while patients are awake? One reason is because the area of the brain upon which the surgeon plans to operate is close to sites that subserve functions important to life, such as speech and muscle control. If the patient is awake while the surgery is being performed, then the function of these areas can be continually tested to assure the surgeon that the planned resection of brain tissue from that area will not leave the patient with a major neurological deficit. 1,2 Another reason that craniotomies are performed while the patient is awake is to permit recording of electrical activity from the cortical surface. Such recording is termed electrocorticography (ECoG). The use of ECoG allows a “topographical map” to be made of the brain. This map shows the locations of primary and secondary epileptogenic discharges, as well as the route and extent of the spread of such electrical