Patients who listen to music fare better during surgery.
This is according to a study that reveals that intraoperative music therapy significantly reduces the amounts of propofol and fentanyl required during laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed under general anaesthesia.
Patients exposed to therapeutic music also experienced smoother recoveries and lower physiological stress, as measured by decreased perioperative cortisol levels.
Dr Tanvi Goel, principal investigator and anaesthesiologist at Lok Nayak Hospital and Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi, India, said: ‘These findings show that this is more than just simple background music, rather an integration of a novel intervention into anaesthetic practice.’
Dr Farah Husain, co-investigator and certified music therapist, added: ‘By delivering intraoperative music, we’re engaging the patient’s nervous system even under anaesthesia – blunting the neuroendocrine stress response when the body is most vulnerable.’
Dr Sonia Wadhawan, Director Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at Maulana Azad Medical College, said: ‘The auditory environment under anaesthesia is often neglected, but sound, when delivered with therapeutic intent, may accelerate healing, reduce stress, and improve recovery in ways we are only beginning to quantify.’
Wendy L Magee, Professor of Music Therapy at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, commented: ‘This study adds to the growing empirical evidence that the neural effects of patient-preferred music translate to behavioural benefits. For people with disorders of consciousness following brain surgery, patient-preferred music improves arousal and cognition. This research furthers the evidence that music with personal meaning enhances salience and emotional impact – maximising music’s neural effects and supporting recovery.’
Joseph J Schlesinger, Professor of Anaesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine, Hearing & Speech Sciences, and Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, said: ‘This study shows the real potential of music to improve anaesthetic care, but we must go further. To truly understand how music affects the brain during surgery, we need multimodal EEG and a broader view of the perioperative sound environment that includes both patient outcomes and provider safety.’
The study is published in the journal Music and Medicine.
