It is potentially one of the most divisive issues in medicine: the music on the surgeon’s operating theatre playlist.

The often-cited justification for allowing them to make the selection is that it improves their mood, helps them deal with mental fatigue and can reduce the stresses and strains of a complex procedure.

But what happens if their taste in music is bad — say, Beethoven’s late string quartets or Boney M?

Trainee vascular surgeon Dr Anantha Narayanan has explored the issue in his Background Auditory Conditions in Healthcare (BACH) study, interviewing three surgeons, two anaesthetists and two theatre nurses to find out what the surgical team thought and how they coped.