Patient-Selected Music During Surgery Cuts Anesthetic Use and Stress in Randomized Trial

Overview

• The peer-reviewed randomized trial, conducted at Lok Nayak Hospital and Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi, tested patient-selected music during laparoscopic cholecystectomy under total intravenous anesthesia and was published Oct. 27 in Music and Medicine.
• Patients who heard music required significantly less propofol and fentanyl than control patients receiving standard care.
• Clinicians reported smoother, gentler awakenings from anesthesia in the music group during immediate recovery.
• Perioperative cortisol levels were substantially lower with music exposure, indicating a blunted physiological stress response.
• Study authors and external experts recommend multi-center studies with multimodal monitoring and standardized protocols before broad clinical adoption.