Introduction
delirium, fits, postoperative pain, postoperative delirium, anxiety, dementia, Delirium, neurocognitive disorder, DSM-5
DISORDERS
Delirium is defined in the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as ‘an acute disturbance in attention and cognition which is not better explained by another neurocognitive disorder such as for example dementia’. To increase the recognition of delirium during hospital stay, a variety of delirium diagnostic screening tools have been developed, which can also be assessed by other healthcare workers. Delirium in neurosurgical patients has been reported in 4%–44% of cases, with a large variation in definition and assessment methods.Although promising preventive approaches are emerging, pharmacological treatments have inconsistent results and are accompanied with side effects.Recorded music is an easy applicable intervention which neatly fits throughout the entire perioperative process and has been shown to be effective in the surgical population in reducing a combination of delirium-eliciting factors such as preoperative anxiety, postoperative pain, stress response and opioid/sedation requirement.We therefore designed a randomised controlled trial to assess the effect of music on the prevention of postoperative delirium in neurosurgical patients.