Effect of music on the physiological responses and anxiety levels of patients receiving mechanical ventilation

Abstract

Measurement of soft tissue stiffness can be used to assess the severity of some diseases.This is usually performed by hand palpation in clinics and the operators try to give a qualitative or at most semi-quantitative value of stiffness according to their feelings from the finger.The results are quite subjective and very depend on the experience of the operators.Therefore,it is necessary to develop some quantitative and objective tools to assess the stiffness of soft tissues.In this study,we introduce the tissue ultrasound palpation system (TUPS),which measures the soft tissue stiffness by utilizing the ultrasound transducer itself to indent the tissue and the ultrasound signal to extract the deformation of the tested tissue during indentation.The various applications of TUPS for soft tissue assessment that have been investigated up to date are reviewed in the introduction part.Then we report the application of this system to assess the mechanical properties of plantar soft tissues in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Results showed that stiffness of soft tissues at the fifth metatarsal head of the rheumatoid feet with deformity[(67.1±38.1) kPa] was significantly larger than that in normal subjects [(46.0±12.1kPa)](p=0.021).The thickness at the first and fifth metatarsal heads in rheumatoid feet was significantly smaller than that in normal subjects (p=0.010 and p=0.027,respectively).Our study showed that foot deformity in RA patients significantly increases the stiffness of plantar soft tissues in the lateral metatarsal region.The TUPS can also be used for a longitudinal follow-up of change of the plantar soft tissue stiffness as an indicator of the progression of rheumatoid feet. 还原 Objective To investigate the effects of music on the anxiety of patients on mechanical ventilation, as assessed by objective parameters and a subjective validated anxiety scale.Method 64 patients receiving mechanical ventilation were randomly assigned to undergo either 30 minutes of music intervention or a rest period.The patiens were asked to answer the Chinese State Trait Anxiety Inventory (C-STAI) scale before and after the study period and physiological indices and resting behaviors were recorded before and after the study period in both groups. The patients’ satisfaction with music was also obtained after music intervention.Result The findings indicate that patients on mechanical ventilation that listened to a single 30-minute session of music appeared to show greater relaxation as manifested by a decrease in physiological indices and an increase in comfortable resting behaviors.Conclusion Music can provide a confirmed effect on reducing potentially harmful physiological responses arising from anxiety in mechanically ventilated patients.