Music therapy may reduce anxiety in patients with breast cancer undergoing surgery

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

Including music therapy as a complementary approach with cancer surgery may help reduce preoperative anxiety in a safe, effective, time-efficient, and enjoyable manner, according to a new study published online ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has shown.

For the study, researchers enrolled 207 female patients undergoing surgery for potential or known breast cancer between 2012 and 2014.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive preoperative patient-selected live music with intraoperative therapist-selected recorded music (LM), preoperative patient-selected recorded music with intraoperative therapist-selected recorded music (RM), or usual care preoperatively with nose-blocking earmuffs intraoperatively (UC).

Results showed there was no significant difference in anesthesia requirements between the three groups, but the LM and RM groups had greater reductions in anxiety preoperatively.

There was no difference in recovery time between the LM/RM groups and the UC group, but the LM group had a shorter recovery time compared with those in the RM group. There was also no significant difference in patient satisfaction between the three interventions.