(1) To assess the efficacy of a 20 minute massage therapy session on pain, anxiety, and tension in patients before an invasive cardiovascular procedure. (2) To assess overall patient satisfaction with the massage therapy. (3) To evaluate the feasibility of integrating massage therapy into preprocedural practices. Experimental pretest-posttest design using random assignment. Medical cardiology progressive care units at a Midwestern Academic Medical Center. Patients (N=130) undergoing invasive cardiovascular procedures. The intervention group received 20 minutes of hands on massage at least 30 minutes before an invasive cardiovascular procedure. Control group patients received standard preprocedural care. Visual analogue scales were used to collect verbal numeric responses measuring pain, anxiety, and tension pre- and postprocedure. The differences between pre- and postprocedure scores were compared between the massage and standard therapy groups using the Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon's test. Scores for pain, anxiety, and tension scores were identified along with an increase in satisfaction for patients who received a 20-minute massage before procedure compared with those receiving standard care. This pilot study showed that massage can be incorporated into medical cardiovascular units' preprocedural practice and adds validity to prior massage studies.

We welcome the comments of Messrs. O’Connell and Carson to our paper on spectral analysis interpretation of electromagnetic (EM) data. Through our comments we did not mean to imply that GEOTEM® was equivalent to INPUT® in all respects. As pointed out, only with respect to the transmitter‐receiver geometry and transmitter waveform are the GEOTEM and analog INPUT systems essentially the same.

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Numerical modeling of the time‐domain electromagnetic (EM) step response of a vertical tabular target hidden beneath a thin conductive overburden reveals that the target’s presence may be detected only during a well‐defined time window. In a situation where the secondary magnetic field is sensed by an airborne system equipped with horizontal coaxial dipoles, a conductance contrast of about ten between the target and the overburden is needed to ensure target detection. This value will, of course, vary with the size and depth of the target and, to a lesser extent, with the geometry of the system. In general, the time at which the window opens is a function of the geometrical parameters of the target, the height of the system, and the conductance of the overburden. For a given target, its width (defined as the ratio of the time of closure to the time of opening) is only a function of the conductance contrast between the target and the overburden. While the target signal is visible, one observes a maximum value of the target‐to‐overburden response ratio. The time at which this occurs is mainly controlled by the conductance of the target. The presence of the overburden causes the target signal to build up gradually before decaying toward zero. However, once the target signal dominates the overburden response, the signal can be approximated by a simple exponential decay over the time range of interest. The time constant of this decay is determined by the size and conductance of the target. Using this model, it is easy to relate the magnetic field step response calculated here to the response observable with a conventional EM system that transmits a primary field pulse of finite duration and detects the time derivative of the secondary magnetic field.