Neurosurgery and Music; Effect of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The nervous system works like a great orchestra. Specifically, the music of Mozart with its "Mozart effect" is appropriate to use in neurosurgery. We investigated the relationship between Mozart's music and neurosurgery.

We used digital catalogs like "PubMed" and the libraries of universities. Key words were "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart" and "neurosurgery and music."

In the first half of the 20th century, performing neurosurgery on some musicians, such as Maurice Ravel, Josef Hassid, and George Gershwin, resulted in a fatal outcome. The cause of this is probably that neurosurgery had not been developed yet in the first half of the 20th century. In the past 3 decades, the neurosurgical operations of musicians show that musicians have rich associations among auditory, somatic, and sensorial systems.

It is clear that we have much to learn from studies about music and brain function that derive from our surgical experiences with patients. The neuronal plasticity of musicians' brains may be different from that of nonmusicians' brains. Musicians with enhanced motor skills have greater capacity for plasticity because of enriched interhemispheric connections. Listening to music and the effect of Mozart in neurosurgical practice, intensive care, or rehabilitation were documented in many studies. As authors, we mean something different: Its effectiveness should be studied. We concluded that in current neurosurgical practice, Mozart has an effect. More research and clinical studies are needed.