Does your doc rock? If not, you might be entitled to financial compensation.
Okay, not actually — but apparently listening to AC/DC in the operating room improves surgical efficiency and precision. Likewise, playing the Beatles can "Help!" surgeons mend faster stitching times.
A new study by Cui Yang, Franziska Möttig, Juergen Weitz, Christoph Reissfelder and Soeren Torge Mees in Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery investigated the effect of genre and amplitude of music played during laparoscopic surgery. The researchers found that listening to fast-paced music can speed up the meticulous, detail-oriented performance of surgery, with rock music having a calming effect and even possessing the ability to lower blood pressure.
In surgical trials, the practitioners that listened to AC/DC classics "T.N.T." and "Highway to Hell" improved their incision times from 236 seconds to 139 seconds. Perhaps surprisingly, given how thunderstruck they were by unprecedented scalpel speeds, the surgeons' accuracy also increased by five percent.
Meanwhile, the Fab Four's "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude" sped up the time that it took for doctors to stitch up wounds by an incredible 50 percent. However, the standards had to be played at a low volume. On the other hand, their hard rock counterparts had greater positive effects on the medical practitioners when the music was played at high decibels. Amplitude is an important qualifying factor — just ask the patient who asked to listen to Tool in a landmark brain implant communication.
"It is possible that music with high rhythmicity could provide a tempo to keep up the speed of the performance and thus enhance task performance," lead researcher Cui Yang of Germany's Heidelberg University wrote in the study's conclusions, adding: "Our results show that both soft rock and hard rock can enhance surgical performance."
Legally, we are (correctly) barred from imparting medical advice, but we'll say this much: while you might be under too much anesthesia to experience it firsthand, it might not be the worst thing to discover that the operating table shook all night long during your surgical procedure.
Okay, not actually — but apparently listening to AC/DC in the operating room improves surgical efficiency and precision. Likewise, playing the Beatles can "Help!" surgeons mend faster stitching times.
A new study by Cui Yang, Franziska Möttig, Juergen Weitz, Christoph Reissfelder and Soeren Torge Mees in Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery investigated the effect of genre and amplitude of music played during laparoscopic surgery. The researchers found that listening to fast-paced music can speed up the meticulous, detail-oriented performance of surgery, with rock music having a calming effect and even possessing the ability to lower blood pressure.
In surgical trials, the practitioners that listened to AC/DC classics "T.N.T." and "Highway to Hell" improved their incision times from 236 seconds to 139 seconds. Perhaps surprisingly, given how thunderstruck they were by unprecedented scalpel speeds, the surgeons' accuracy also increased by five percent.
Meanwhile, the Fab Four's "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude" sped up the time that it took for doctors to stitch up wounds by an incredible 50 percent. However, the standards had to be played at a low volume. On the other hand, their hard rock counterparts had greater positive effects on the medical practitioners when the music was played at high decibels. Amplitude is an important qualifying factor — just ask the patient who asked to listen to Tool in a landmark brain implant communication.
"It is possible that music with high rhythmicity could provide a tempo to keep up the speed of the performance and thus enhance task performance," lead researcher Cui Yang of Germany's Heidelberg University wrote in the study's conclusions, adding: "Our results show that both soft rock and hard rock can enhance surgical performance."
Legally, we are (correctly) barred from imparting medical advice, but we'll say this much: while you might be under too much anesthesia to experience it firsthand, it might not be the worst thing to discover that the operating table shook all night long during your surgical procedure.
