Hearing soothing music and encouraging words while under anesthesia may ease patients' recovery after surgery, results of a Swedish study suggest. 

    Women undergoing hysterectomies who listened to relaxing music and sounds of ocean waves while under general anesthesia experienced less pain, were less fatigued when released from the hospital, and were able to sit up sooner after their operation than patients who did not listen to music, researchers report.

    And women who listened to music and encouraging words during the operation needed less pain medication immediately after surgery according to findings published in a recent issue of the journal Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica.

    瑞典一項研究表明播放一些撫慰的音樂或對病人說些鼓勵的話，可以減輕全身麻醉的病人手術后的疼痛，促進傷口的愈合。 

    研究人員說，為全身麻醉的接受子宮摘除手術的病人播放一些輕松的音樂或者海浪的聲音，可以減少病人的疼痛感，病人出院時也沒有那么虛弱，和沒有聽音樂的病人相比，她們術后較短的時間內就可以坐起身來。

    最近一期《斯堪的納維亞麻醉學學報》上刊登了這一研究成果：女病人在手術中聽一些放松的音樂和鼓勵的話語，可以起到一定的術后陣痛作用。

    Even though people are unconscious when under general anesthesia, research suggests that the brain may be more aware of what happens during surgery than previously thought. Because of this so-called intra-operative awareness, patients may overhear the remarks of doctors and nurses, which could lead to anxiety and dissatisfaction after surgery, Dr. Ulrica Nilsson at Orebro Medical Center Hospital in Sweden and colleagues report.

    To protect patients from inappropriate or misinterpreted comments overheard during surgery, ``taped soothing music or music in combination with therapeutic suggestions could be provided to all patients undergoing surgery under general anesthesia,'' Nilsson suggested.

    ``It is a noninvasive and inexpensive intervention that can improve some postoperative outcomes such as pain and fatigue,'' she said.

    瑞典厄勒布魯醫療中心醫院的尤里卡·尼爾森和她的同事在研究報告中表示，雖然病人在全身麻醉的情況下是沒有意識的，但這份研究解釋說病人的大腦對手術中發生的事比我們想象的敏感。由于這種"術中意識"，病人很可能在手術中無意識的聽到醫生和護士的對話，這樣就會增加病人術后的焦慮和不滿。

    為了避免讓病人在手術中無意識的聽到一些不該聽到的話或者曲解了醫生間的對話，尼爾森醫生提議"手術中最好為做了全身麻醉的病人播放一些輕松的音樂和一些治療建議"。

    她說："這種調節方法可以減輕病人術后疼痛和虛弱，沒有任何副作用，而且很容易辦到。"

    Nilsson's team based their conclusions on a study of 90 women who were randomly assigned to listen to music, a combination of music and therapeutic words or ordinary sounds of the operating room during a hysterectomy.

    Although music and therapeutic suggestions provided benefits to patients, it did not have any effect on several other factors, including nausea, length of hospital stay and bowel function after surgery. The findings need to be confirmed in additional studies, the authors note.

    尼爾森醫生的研究小組隨機選擇了90名接受子宮切除手術的女病人，手術中向一部分病人播放音樂，向另一部分播放音樂和治療建議，其余的只聽得到手術室中正常的聲響。

    結果表明，音樂和鼓勵的話語的確可以在一定程度上有助于病人的恢復，但對病人手術中惡心、住院時間長短和手術后的腸功能并沒有明顯改善作用。最后該研究的作者指出，這項發現還有待進一步證明。