The usefulness of bright light therapy for patients after oesophagectomy.

Objectives: The prevention of delirium is an important issue in the field of perioperative nursing. The objective of this study was to verify the usefulness of acute-stage bright light exposure on patients following oesophagectomy.

Methods: The participants were oesophagectomy patients that were removed from their ventilators the day after surgery.

Influence of bright light therapy on postoperative patients: a pilot study.

Bright light therapy is a method of maintaining or restoring the natural circadian rhythm by assisting daytime awakening using bright lights. Postoperative delirium is one of the potential complications encountered by patients receiving postoperative care in the intensive care unit (ICU), but there have been no studies on the use of light for the prevention of postoperative delirium. The objective of this study was to examine whether the circadian rhythms of patients after surgery for oesophageal cancer can be adjusted and whether the postoperative delirium crisis rate can be reduced by bright light therapy.