Live Music Therapy impact on anxiety of patients receiving PET/CT scans

Objectives: Research has shown imaging studies at a hospital can induce anxiety, particularly to cancer patients undergoing FDG-PET/CT studies. Board-certified music therapists use music therapy to increase relaxation and decrease anxiety. Rhythmic entrainment is a form of music therapy in which the patient’s biorhythm, like their heart rate, is paired with live music of the same tempo. Person-Centered Therapy uses an empathic approach that empowers and motivates the participant in the therapeutic process. The purpose of this study was to determine if live music therapy can reduce anxiety of patients undergoing standard of care medical imaging. A secondary purpose which is ongoing is to determine if changes in anxiety can impact image interpretation. The study outcomes may help develop a more complete approach to treatment. Methods/Materials: Patients undergoing standard of care PET/CT exams who were willing and able to consent took part in this single institution IRB-approved study. In total, 25 patients were enrolled (20 with music therapy intervention and 5 controls). Patients were randomly selected to the experimental group or control group. The experimental group received 30 minutes of music therapy during the uptake phase of the scan which utilized live music and possibly vocals performed by a trained music therapist who is also the musician. The live sessions create a more individual experience that included personal music preference, rhythmic entrainment, and Person-Centered Therapy techniques. The control participants followed the standard of care protocol during the uptake phase which does not include music. Both groups had pulse, respirations per minute (RPM), and blood pressure measured before and after the 30-minute session. Both groups had RPM measured at 5 minutes and 15 minutes into the sessions. All participants were asked to complete a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) before and after the 30-minute session. The STAI is a survey designed for patients receiving music therapy intervention to measure the anxiety level.

Results: The RPM rate and the STAI showed statistical significant differences between the pre and post session measurements for the experimental group (Table 1). The STAI total score decreased by 37.7% in the experimental sample and 7.4% in the control sample. The RPM decreased by 14% in the experimental sample and did not change in the control sample. However, the STAI and RPM did not show statistically significant changes in the control group (Table 2). The heart rate measurements did not show a significant difference between pre and post measurements in either group. The blood pressure changes did not show significant differences with any of the acquired data. Conclusion: The use of music therapy showed a higher percentage decrease from the pre to post data for the STAI and the RPM compared to the control group leading to an overall greater decrease in anxiety levels.