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| Research suggests that relaxing music before going under the knife could reduce the amount of sedation needed
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Soothing music before surgery helps patients relax and need less
sedation, a study found.
Just a quarter of an hour of jazz,
classical and piano music before an eye operation was enough to reduce anxiety about the surgery
carried out while the patient is awake.
A pilot study by the Paris-based
Cochin University Hospital used music specifically composed to ease anxiety and
found those who listened to it were more relaxed than others, up to an hour
afterwards.
The 16 pieces were selected with the
aim to prevent and manage pain, anxiety and depression.
All were instrumental pieces
using a decreasing tempo, with a progressive decrease in the number of
instruments playing.
The study involved 62 patients who
either listened to their choice of music or did not 15 minutes before cataract
surgery, which also lasted an average 15 minutes.
The patients then completed a
questionnaire on how anxious they were pre and post operatively.
They scored from one to ten how
frightened they were about the procedure, the anaesthesia, the pain after the
operation, the risk of side effects or a botched operation.
Researchers also compared the
proportion of patients receiving the sedative midazolam during surgery, and found
that those who were prescribed music were half as likely to need such drugs.
Results showed anxiety was
significantly reduced among the music group (score 23 out of 100) compared to
the non-music group (score 65 out of 100).
Post-operative satisfaction was
significantly higher in the music group (mean score 71 out of 100 versus 55 for
the non-music group).
Researcher Dr Gilles Guerrier said:
"Music listening may be considered as an inexpensive, non-invasive,
non-pharmacological method to reduce anxiety for patients undergoing elective
eye surgery under local anaesthesia.
"The objective is to provide
music to all patients before eye surgery.
"We intend to assess the
procedure in other type of surgeries, including orthopaedics where regional
anaesthesia is common.
"Moreover, post-operative pain
may be reduced by decreasing pre-operative anxiety, which is another study we
intend to perform."
The study was presented at
Euroanaesthesia 2016 in London.
Listen
to samples of the selected pieces
Donnelly, Laura. The Telegraph.
May 27, 2016. Accessed June 14, 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/27/music-before-surgery-means-patients-need-less-sedation-study-fin/.
