Music During Surgery May Ease Patients' Recovery (2001)

Hearing soothing music and encouraging words while under anesthesia may ease patients' recovery after surgery, results of a Swedish study suggest.

Women undergoing hysterectomies who listened to relaxing music and sounds of ocean waves while under general anesthesia experienced less pain, were less fatigued when released from the hospital, and were able to sit up sooner after their operation than patients who did not listen to music, researchers report.

And women who listened to music and encouraging words during the operation needed less pain medication immediately after surgery according to findings published in a recent issue of the journal Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica.

瑞典一项研究表明播放一些抚慰的音乐或对病人说些鼓励的话，可以减轻全身麻醉的病人手术后的疼痛，促进伤口的愈合。

研究人员说，为全身麻醉的接受子宫摘除手术的病人播放一些轻松的音乐或者海浪的声音，可以减少病人的疼痛感，病人出院时也没有那么虚弱，和没有听音乐的病人相比，她们术后较短的时间内就可以坐起身来。

最近一期《斯堪的纳维亚麻醉学学报》上刊登了这一研究成果：女病人在手术中听一些放松的音乐和鼓励的话语，可以起到一定的术后阵痛作用。

Even though people are unconscious when under general anesthesia, research suggests that the brain may be more aware of what happens during surgery than previously thought. Because of this so-called intra-operative awareness, patients may overhear the remarks of doctors and nurses, which could lead to anxiety and dissatisfaction after surgery, Dr. Ulrica Nilsson at Orebro Medical Center Hospital in Sweden and colleagues report.

To protect patients from inappropriate or misinterpreted comments overheard during surgery, ``taped soothing music or music in combination with therapeutic suggestions could be provided to all patients undergoing surgery under general anesthesia,'' Nilsson suggested.

``It is a noninvasive and inexpensive intervention that can improve some postoperative outcomes such as pain and fatigue,'' she said.

瑞典厄勒布鲁医疗中心医院的尤里卡·尼尔森和她的同事在研究报告中表示，虽然病人在全身麻醉的情况下是没有意识的，但这份研究解释说病人的大脑对手术中发生的事比我们想象的敏感。由于这种"术中意识"，病人很可能在手术中无意识的听到医生和护士的对话，这样就会增加病人术后的焦虑和不满。

为了避免让病人在手术中无意识的听到一些不该听到的话或者曲解了医生间的对话，尼尔森医生提议"手术中最好为做了全身麻醉的病人播放一些轻松的音乐和一些治疗建议"。

她说："这种调节方法可以减轻病人术后疼痛和虚弱，没有任何副作用，而且很容易办到。"

Nilsson's team based their conclusions on a study of 90 women who were randomly assigned to listen to music, a combination of music and therapeutic words or ordinary sounds of the operating room during a hysterectomy.

Although music and therapeutic suggestions provided benefits to patients, it did not have any effect on several other factors, including nausea, length of hospital stay and bowel function after surgery. The findings need to be confirmed in additional studies, the authors note.

尼尔森医生的研究小组随机选择了90名接受子宫切除手术的女病人，手术中向一部分病人播放音乐，向另一部分播放音乐和治疗建议，其余的只听得到手术室中正常的声响。

结果表明，音乐和鼓励的话语的确可以在一定程度上有助于病人的恢复，但对病人手术中恶心、住院时间长短和手术后的肠功能并没有明显改善作用。最后该研究的作者指出，这项发现还有待进一步证明。