Effects of Music Therapy on Anesthesia Requirements and Anxiety in Women Undergoing Ambulatory Breast Surgery for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose: To investigate the effect of live and recorded perioperative music therapy on anesthesia requirements, anxiety levels, recovery time, and patient satisfaction in women experiencing surgery for diagnosis or treatment of breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Between 2012 and 2014, 207 female patients undergoing surgery for potential or known breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive either patient-selected live music (LM) preoperatively with therapist-selected recorded music intraoperatively (n=69), patient-selected recorded music (RM) preoperatively with therapist-selected recorded music intraoperatively (n=70), or usual care (UC) preoperatively with noise-blocking earmuffs intraoperatively (n=68).

Results: The LM and the RM groups did not differ significantly from the UC group in the amount of propofol required to reach moderate sedation. Compared with the UC group, both the LM and the RM groups had greater reductions (P<.001) in anxiety scores preoperatively (mean changes [and standard deviation: -30.9 [36.3], -26.8 [29.3], and 0.0 [22.7]), respectively. The LM and RM groups did not differ from the UC group with respect to recovery time; however, the LM group had a shorter recovery time compared with the RM group (a difference of 12.4 minutes; 95% CI, 2.2 to 22.5; P=.018). Satisfaction scores for the LM and RM groups did not differ from those of the UC group.

Conclusion: Including music therapy as a complementary modality with cancer surgery may help manage preoperative anxiety in a way that is safe, effective, time-efficient, and enjoyable.