Music therapy can serve as a safe, affordable means of reducing patient anxiety during procedures, according to a new analysis published Nov. 11 in Academic Radiology [1].
Thyroid nodules are a common clinical finding, impacting upward of 67% of individuals, with malignancies found in 5% to 15% of cases. Often, providers use fine-needle aspiration biopsy to distinguish whether the growth is benign, a procedure that can cause pain and apprehension among patients, experts noted.
Overseas researchers recently tested music as a possible approach to relieve such stress. To do so, they conducted a randomized-control, single-blind study among 90 patients, assigning half to undergo a thyroid biopsy with the aid of music. They found clear benefit, with the intervention helping individuals to comfortably complete their treatment.
“The results of this study demonstrate music therapy is an inexpensive, safe, and noninvasive method in thyroid biopsy patients for decreasing pain and anxiety levels during procedure[s],” concluded Okan Gürkan and Mehmet Fatih Kaya, with the Department of Radiology at Gaziosmanpaşa Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey.
For the analysis, researchers administered a 40-question anxiety inventory to measure individuals’ levels of unease during procedures. Subjects were divided into two cohorts: 45 individuals in Group 2 listened to music during a thyroid biopsy while 46 more in Group 1 did not.
Following the procedure, average state-anxiety-scale scores were not significantly different among the two (p=0.24). However, the state anxiety scale differences, representing the decrease in pre- and post-procedure anxiety levels, were statistically different between the two groups (p=0.01). The study authors also used a Visual Analogue Scale to evaluate patient pain levels, which music therapy also appeared to impact.
“There were several strengths in this study. Both pre-and post-procedure anxiety scores of both groups were compared in order to more accurately calculate the effect of music on anxiety occurring during the procedure,” the authors noted. “In addition, questioning painkiller use in the evening after the procedure is as important as following instant VAS scores. Another feature that contributed to the strength of this study was that it was prospective and single-blind.”
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Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.