Music soothes the savage beast, they say. There’s evidence that it eases stress and may even promote healing. Surgeons often listen to recorded music while operating. Jorge Camara, MD, an eye surgeon at Hawaii Medical Center East, went a whole step further, installing a piano in the operating room–and playing it himself.

Dr. Camara and his colleagues, Joseph Ruszkowski, PhD, and Sandra Worak, MD, report on their unusual experiment in the online Medscape Journal of Medicine. Between May and August, in 2005, a piano was placed in the ophthalmology operating room. While patients were being brought in and prepared for cataract surgery, Camara, an accomplished amateur pianist, sat down at the keyboard and serenaded them with pieces by Debussy, Chopin, Ravel, Piazzolla and other composers. In all, 144 patients were treated to Camara’s music-making. The researchers then compared these patients with a control group who underwent cataract surgery (also performed by Camara) but without a musical overture.

Those in the musical group, it turned out, had significantly lower blood pressure, heart rates, and respiratory rates–all indicators that they were more relaxed.

The results harmonize nicely with findings from other studies. Turkish researchers have previously reported that recorded Turkish classical flute music played during colonoscopies resulted in less anxiety and pain for patients. A study by Chinese scientists charted lower blood pressure and heart rates among surgery patients exposed to relaxing music.

Dr. Camara and his colleagues acknowledge that precious few operating rooms are equipped with pianos. Nor are many surgeons trained in classical piano performance. So the practical implications may be limited. Still, if you’re going in for surgery, these and other findings suggest that it’s a good idea to bring along your MP3 player stocked with music that helps you relax.

© 2009 PDQhealth

Tags: music, relaxation, surgery