Alternative therapies in health and medicine
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Altern Ther Health Med · Nov 2003
The effect of using music therapy with relaxation imagery in the management of patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation: a pilot feasibility study.
Bone marrow/stem cell transplantation is becoming an increasingly common treatment for a variety of hematologic disorders. The treatment process is not benign. Both physiologic and psychological regimen-related side effects are common, painful, and even life threatening. Music therapy is the prescribed use of music to aid in the prevention or amelioration of physical, psychological, or cognitive problems. Relaxation imagery, as used in this study, consisted of simple visualization and direct imagery-based suggestions. The mechanism of action of the intervention is hypothesized to be reduction of the stress response through neuroendocrine pathways. ⋯ Pre/post music/relaxation imagery intervention measures of pain and nausea using a visual analog scale; determination of time-to-engraftment.