Singing lowers patient`s BP prior to surgery

Washington: A case study has reported that singing lowers patient``s blood pressure prior to surgery.

Doctors found that singing reduced the blood pressure of a 76-year-old woman who had experienced severe preoperative hypertension prior to total knee replacement surgery for osteoarthritis (OA). While the patient was unresponsive to aggressive pharmacologic interventions, the woman``s blood pressure dropped dramatically when she sang several religious songs. Traditional therapy for preoperative hypertension, doctors say, involves drug-based therapies that include diuretics, beta blockers, calcium-channel blockers, and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. These medications are used to lower blood pressure to acceptable levels for surgery, however, a number of patients do not respond to these treatments. In patients unresponsive to standard therapies, as in the current case study patient, alternative hypertension interventions are needed. Several studies suggest that listening to music can be effective in reducing blood pressure by calming or diverting patients prior to surgery, which lessens stress and anxiety," explains lead author Nina Niu, a researcher from Harvard Medical School in Boston. "Our case study expands on medical evidence by showing that producing music or singing also has potential therapeutic effects in the preoperative setting." This case-report appears in the April issue of Arthritis Care and Research, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). ANI