Music May Ease Anxiety, Pain in Prostate Biopsy Patients

THURSDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) — Listening to music on
headphones can help reduce the pain and anxiety experienced by a man as he
undergoes a prostate biopsy, new research suggests.

The study by researchers at Duke Cancer Institute included 88 prostate
biopsy patients randomly assigned to three groups. One group wore
noise-cancelling headphones and listened to Bach concertos during the
procedure, while the second group wore the headphones but heard no music.
The third group had no headphones.

The men in the study underwent a transrectal biopsy, an intrusive
procedure that uses an ultrasound probe and a spring-loaded needle with a
loud trigger. The noise of the trigger causes many patients to flinch even
if they report no pain, and the procedure causes high levels of stress and
anxiety in about 20 percent of patients, the researchers said in a Duke
Medicine news release.

The men’s blood pressure was checked before and after the procedure.
Diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) often rises as a result of
stress and anxiety. A spike in diastolic blood pressure occurred among
both groups of men who didn’t listen to music during the procedure, but
did not occur among those who listened to music, the investigators
found.

Patients who listened to music also reported less pain, according to
the study published in the January issue of the journal
Urology.

The findings suggest that providing patients with headphones and music
may be a simple and low-cost way to help the estimated 700,000 men who
have a prostate biopsy each year in the United States, the researchers
said.

“It’s a matter of shifting attention, so the music provides a
distraction from the procedure,” lead author Dr. Matvey Tsivian, a
urologic oncology fellow at Duke, said in the news release.

The researchers did not examine whether the type of music heard by
patients might have an impact on their anxiety and pain levels.

“We couldn’t study all the permutations and variables, but it’s evident
that this kind of approach works,” senior author Dr. Thomas Polascik,
director of urologic oncology at the Duke Cancer Institute, said in the
news release. “This is something that could be broadly employed. It’s easy
and inexpensive — a set of headphones and music. That’s it.”

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases has more about medical tests for prostate problems.

Views: 0

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes