Clinical Research Directory

Music Therapy and Mindfulness Meditation

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) involves bypassing a blocked artery with a healthy blood vessel elsewhere from body allowing the blood flow to be restored to heart. Most patients after CABG surgery have hemodynamic instability such as elevated blood pressure (BP) and low heart rate variability (HRV). High BP could be due pain, stress, and withdrawal of BP medications, which patient used to take preoperatively. BP progressively increases within 24 hours, postoperatively, and daytime systolic and diastolic BP may remain elevated for =14 weeks after CABG, while lower HRV may take 6 months to recover after CABG. In addition, these patients suffer from anxiety and depression which is associated with poor mental health that can create significant challenges and barriers for patients in making and sustaining important behavioral and lifestyle modifications. Non-pharmacological interventions such as music therapy (MT) and mindfulness meditation (MM) have been successfully used to manage anxiety and depression among patients undergone various surgeries, but there is scarcity in the current literature with regards to investigating the combined effect of MT and MM on anxiety and depression in CABG patients. Furthermore, the cumulative effect of these 2 interventions on hemodynamic variables is not well established. Therefore, this study aims to bridge these gaps and develop an interventional protocol that can improve the hemodynamic stability and mental health of CABG patients.