Effect of Music on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Patients Undergoing Cataract Extraction Surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND Music is an inexpensive, easily available anxiolytic known to mankind since ages. Cataract extraction surgery is one of the widely performed surgeries under local anaesthesia. India is a developing country where limited resources are spent over health infrastructure which has to cater to a large population. In our study we have tried to utilize the anxietolytic effect of music in combating the anxiety and stress patients suffer during surgery. METHODS In this prospective, interventional study, 300 patients diagnosed with senile cataract were selected. The sample size was decided taking into consideration various prevalence studies. The patients were consequently recruited for the study considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Patients were divided into three groups - one undergoing phacoemulsification surgery under topical anaesthesia and two groups undergoing phacoemulsification surgery under local anaesthesia by the same surgeon in a same operating room. Two groups including the one where topical anaesthesia was used were made to listen to ‘Classical Sitar Music’ whereas one group was not made to listen to music. Blood pressure and heart rates were measured before and after surgery and compared in all patients. RESULTS Blood pressure and heart rates were statistically significantly normalized (lowered) post-operatively when compared to their pre-operative values in groups which were made to listen to music. There was a marked decrease in the anxiety levels in patients who were operated under topical anaesthesia when compared to those operated under local anaesthesia. CONCLUSIONS Music can be widely used in decreasing anxiety levels in patients undergoing cataract extraction surgery thereby improving the post-operative prognosis in patients in a cost-effective way. KEY WORDS Phacoemulsification Surgery, Classical Sitar Music, Peri-Bulbar Block, Topical Anaesthesia, Anxiety, Blood Pressure, Pulse Rate