Music deemed effective in reducing anxiety before anesthesia

Music is a viable alternative to sedative drugs to reduce patient anxiety before anesthesia procedure, according to a Penn Medicine study published today in the newspaper Regional anesthesia and pain medicine.

A peripheral nerve blocking procedure is a type of regional anesthesia – performed in the preoperative area under ultrasound control – that blocks pain sensations originating from a specific area of ​​the body. The procedure is routinely performed for various ambulatory orthopedic surgeries, such as hip and knee arthroscopies and elbow or hand surgeries. To reduce anxiety, which can lead to prolonged recovery and increased postoperative pain, patients usually take sedative medications, such as midazolam, before the nerve blocking procedure. However, medications can have side effects, including respiratory problems and paradoxical effects such as hostility and agitation. In this study, researchers discovered that a relaxing piece of music was as effective as the intravenous form of midazolam to reduce patient anxiety prior to the procedure.

Our results show that there are alternatives without medication to help calm a patient before certain procedures, such as nerve blockages. We have implemented a new process in our ambulatory surgery center to provide patients who wish to listen to music access to disposable earphones. Ultimately, our goal is to offer music as an alternative to help patients relax during their perioperative period. "

Lead author of the study, Veena Graff, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Penn Medicine

Although research has shown that music can help reduce a patient's anxiety before surgery, previous studies focused primarily on music rather than an oral form of sedative drugs, which are not not commonly used preoperatively. In this study, the first to compare music medicine to an intravenous sedative form, the researchers aimed to measure the effectiveness of music to reduce the patient's anxiety before proceeding to block the peripheral nerves .

The team randomly badigned 157 adults to receive one of two options three minutes before peripheral nerve blockage: either an injection of 1-2 mg of midazolam or a pair of noise-canceling earbuds playing "light weight" by Marconi Union, a short song created in collaboration with sound therapists, with harmonies, rhythms and carefully arranged bbad lines, designed specifically to calm listeners. The researchers evaluated the anxiety levels before and after using each method and found similar changes in anxiety levels in both groups.

However, the team noted that patients treated with midazolam had higher levels of satisfaction with their overall experience and fewer communication problems. Researchers attributed these results to a number of factors, including the fact that they used noise canceling headphones, did not normalize the volume of music, and did not allow patients to choose music.