Meditation, Music, and Pain in Imaging-guided Breast Biopsy

Patients undergoing imaging-guided breast biopsy had lower levels of anxiety and fatigue, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Researchers from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, Greensboro Radiology in Greensboro, NC, and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, NC, sought to evaluate the impact of guided meditation and music interventions on patients who were undergoing imaging-guided breast biopsy.

A total of 121 women participated in the study. All women underwent percutaneous imaging-guided breast biopsy and they were randomized into three groups:

• Guided meditation

• Music

• Standard-care control

The meditation group listened to audio-recorded guided loving-kindness meditation throughout the biopsy process, while the music group listened to relaxing music. The standard-care group listened to supportive dialogue from the biopsy team. Immediately before the biopsy and then again after, all the women completed questionnaires measuring anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale), biopsy pain (Brief Pain Inventory), and fatigue (modified Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue).[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"45854","attributes":{"alt":"music therapy","class":"media-image media-image-right","id":"media_crop_4098240212766","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"5275","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","style":"height: 137px; width: 100px; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; margin: 1px; float: right;","title":"©Lightspring/Shutterstock.com","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

After biopsy, participants also completed questionnaires assessing radiologist–patient communication (modified Questionnaire on the Quality of Physician–Patient Interaction), demographics, and medical history.

The results showed that the women in the guided meditation group had less pain than women in both the music and control groups. The meditation and music groups were less anxious during the procedure and experienced less fatigue after than the control group. The control group reported more fatigue following the procedure. The researchers did not find any differences in the patient-perceived quality of radiologist-patient communication between any of the groups, however.

The researchers concluded that while women who listened to the guided meditation or music throughout the biopsy experienced less anxiety and fatigue overall, those in the meditation group also experienced less pain.