Friday ponder: Does playing music during prostate biopsy ease the discomfort?

When I first came across this topic while websurfing the other night, I thought it was a joke.

But no, apparently serious studies have been done on whether the playing of background music during a prostate biopsy makes any difference in the patient's discomfort level as he listens to it

And as often seems to be the case with studies of this nature, different studies have reached different conclusions.

Background music DOES make a difference:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25531837/

"Listening to music during TRUS-guided prostate biopsy significantly reduced patients' feelings of pain, discomfort and dissatisfaction."

Or,

Background music DOESN'T make a difference:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29709434/#:~:text=men%20who%20received%20music%20were%20more%20likely%20to,who%20had%20ambient%20music%20during%20transrectal%20prostate%20biopsy.

"This randomized study showed no difference in anxiety or pain scores for patients who had ambient music during transrectal prostate biopsy."

So take your pick. But studies like these don't matter, because they are just generalizations, and all that does matter is whether you yourself would or would not like music in the background as the biopsy proceeds.

So it could be BOOM BOOM heavy metal rock (not sure that would be the best choice), or something as numbing as the anesthetic used on you, such as Mantovani Strings, or, polka music, anyone? Or no music at all?

BTW, the "Magic of Mantovani":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y15xkcw5ttu

(And from a website: "Annunzio Mantovani was the most successful orchestra leader ever, selling 70 million records from the 1950's to the 1970's.")

And I suppose there could also be an issue with the urologist being distracted by said music, if music is being played during the procedure, as he hums along to the tune, perhaps, while maybe his fingers are tapping up and down a little to the music, the same fingers he is using as he works the sample gun.

So maybe background music during prostate biopsy isn't such a great idea after all.

But one can already hear the jokes.

"Okay, anything other than Barry Manilow. That would make the pain WORSE!"

So if you like, go ahead and vote in the above survey, and if you would also like to indicate the type of music you would prefer to hear playing in the background during prostate biopsy, post and tell us. That should be interesting.

Or would this be one of those times where silence is golden?

I was sound asleep with IV anesthesia...but I do recall some music in the background as I was dropping off. I think it was Steppenwolf.

Jim

Not mine, Urologist didn't wait long enough for the sedative to kick in.
I felt every last one of the thirteen (including sedative) sticks. Plus the darn device made a loud clacking sound when it shot the needle in, so I jumped. It was a bloody mess that I was given the pleasure of cleaning up.

I never had the option of music (or perhaps I did and don't remember). I made all my biopsies go (apparently) faster by chatting with the uro during the procedure. Probably no surprise to you all, I chose to chat about biopsies, but you can certainly talk about anything you like. For some reason, this topic reminds me of:

Man 1: Did you hear about the church raffle this year?
Man 2: No, what are they raffling away?
Man 1: First Prize is one week, all expenses paid, in Philadelphia. Second Prize is two weeks, all expenses paid, in Philadelphia.

Djin

...like Alex in "A Clockwork Orange" and 'Ludwig Van' (the 9th).

I got a propofol IV which knocked me out cold. Woke up to pain, blood and the realization that I am in the 1/2 of the population that does not get an hours-long feeling of euphoria with that drug.

No music played or offered.
I actually don't mind the pain of the biopsies, but I do count them in my head.
My biggest problem is the injected anti-biotic that hurts when it goes in and for a week afterward.
The nurse said it's a very small needle, but it feels like it's 21 gauge.
Lately, my BP plunges afterward and my next to last one caused me tp pass out. I didn't know it happened until the nurse told me.
The last one, 2 weeks ago caused my BP to go to around 70/40.

The day of my biopsy, I’d gone to the gym in the morning and had a pretty intense workout. The biopsy, which only included a bit of Lidocaine, was later in the morning. That afternoon I was looking at my heart rate that my smart watch tracks and it was higher during the biopsy than the visit to the gym.