Music therapy speeds anesthesia recovery in colorectal surgery

By Priyanjana Pramanik, MSc.Reviewed by Lauren HardakerNov 28 2025

A new study shows that pairing soothing music with a structured recovery protocol helps colorectal cancer patients wake faster, stay physiologically stable, and avoid common post-anesthesia complications. This could offer a simple, low-cost way to improve surgical outcomes.

Study: Music therapy combined with anesthesia recovery care boosts anesthesia recovery in colorectal cancer patients undergoing laparoscopic radical resection. Image credit: PeopleImages/Shutterstock.com

In a recent study published in the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, researchers investigated whether incorporating music therapy and structured anesthesia recovery care into standard perioperative nursing care could enhance recovery after medical procedures for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

They found that patients receiving the combined intervention regained consciousness faster after laparoscopic radical resection, required earlier extubation, spent less time in post-anesthetic care units, and showed smaller increases in blood pressure and heart rate during recovery.

Rising CRC burden increases need for better recovery

CRC is a major gastrointestinal malignancy with high global incidence and mortality. In China, rectal cancer is particularly common, and rising rates among younger adults make CRC an increasing public health challenge.

Symptoms such as abdominal pain and rectal bleeding significantly impair quality of life, and because early disease is often silent, many patients present at later stages, complicating treatment. Although surgical techniques and diagnostic tools have advanced, CRC still poses substantial health risks.

Laparoscopic radical resection has become a preferred surgical option because it minimizes trauma, lowers complication rates, and supports quicker recovery. However, general anesthesia disrupts physiological balance and can trigger emergence agitation during the recovery phase.

Such agitation may affect surgical outcomes and patient prognosis. Standard nursing care helps mitigate this risk, but its impact is often limited due to a lack of specificity and inadequate proactive support.

Music therapy offers psychological and physiological benefits and could support recovery. Anesthesia recovery care is a newer, structured nursing model that focuses on early identification and management of anesthesia-related complications. Despite the promise of both approaches, little research has examined their combined use.

Structured music and recovery protocol

This retrospective study included 120 patients with confirmed CRC who underwent elective laparoscopic radical resection at a single hospital between January 2022 and May 2024.

Participants were assigned to either a control group that received standard perioperative nursing or an observation group that received standard care plus music therapy and specialized anesthesia recovery care. Baseline characteristics, including age, sex, body mass index (BMI), anesthesia duration, and tumor stage, were comparable across groups. All patients received identical anesthetic drug regimens and were operated on by the same surgical team.

Inclusion criteria ensured diagnostic confirmation, eligibility for laparoscopic surgery, normal cognitive and sensory function, and stable cardiac, liver, and kidney function. Patients with metastatic disease, recurrent tumors, coagulation disorders, pregnancy, or contraindications to surgery were excluded.

Standard care included preoperative education, fasting guidelines, routine tube placement, standardized anesthesia induction, and continuous intraoperative monitoring. In the observation group, music therapy involved the professional selection of calming music, played in 30-minute sessions daily at 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., with the volume maintained at a gentle level of 25–30 dB.

Anesthesia recovery care comprised enhanced education, psychological support, temperature regulation, warmed fluids, active intraoperative warming, careful postoperative positioning, strict airway management, continuous monitoring, and tailored sedation or analgesia to minimize emergence agitation.

Postoperative recovery was assessed using the Postoperative Quality of Recovery Scale (PQRS) and included recovery times, vital signs, stress hormone levels, postoperative recovery quality, and complication rates.

Complication rates drop sharply with dual therapy

Patients who received both music therapy and structured anesthesia recovery care demonstrated notably better postoperative recovery than those given standard care alone.

Their emergence from anesthesia was quicker, with significantly shorter times to regain consciousness, undergo extubation, and complete their post-anesthesia care unit stay. Although both groups showed rises in heart rate and blood pressure during recovery, these increases were markedly smaller in the intervention group, indicating more stable physiological responses.

Biochemical markers of stress, including cortisol, aldosterone, norepinephrine, and adrenaline, also increased after surgery in both groups; however, the increases were substantially lower among those receiving the combined intervention. This suggests a blunted neuroendocrine stress response.

Postoperative functional recovery showed broad improvements; the observation group scored higher across cognitive, emotional, daily living, nociceptive, and physiological domains.

Complication rates further highlighted the benefits: the intervention group experienced fewer adverse events such as shivering, hypothermia, nausea, vomiting, and emergence agitation. Overall, only 10 % of these patients developed complications, compared with 40 % in the standard care group.

Together, these results indicate that integrating music therapy with enhanced anesthesia recovery care supports faster, more stable, and safer postoperative recovery for colorectal cancer patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery.

Results support adopting music-enhanced recovery protocols

The study suggests that pairing music therapy with anesthesia recovery care meaningfully enhances postoperative recovery after laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery.

The combined approach appears to shorten emergence time, stabilize vital signs, ease neuroendocrine stress responses, and improve patient functioning, aligning with previous evidence from other surgical settings.

The physiological and psychological effects of music, such as distraction, emotional regulation, and attenuation of sympathetic activity, likely complement the individualized support offered through anesthesia recovery care.

Strengths include a clearly defined intervention, comprehensive outcome assessment, controlled surgical and anesthetic conditions, and consistency with prior research. However, the study’s limited sample size and lack of long-term follow-up reduce the certainty and generalizability of the findings.

Future research with larger cohorts and extended monitoring is needed to confirm durability and broader applicability. Despite these limitations, the results support the clinical value of integrating music therapy into standard perioperative care to enhance recovery and reduce complications.

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