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| |  Hypnosis at the Bedside in the OR Relieves Pain, Anxiety of Breast Cancer Biopsy Procedures: Presented at RSNA By Ed Susman CHICAGO, IL -- November 30, 2006 - A simple, self-hypnosis script read to patients at the operating table as patients undergo breast biopsy surgery appears to reduce the patients' post-operative pain and anxiety, researchers reported here at the 92nd scientific assembly and annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). "Hypnosis may be an attractive option not only for breast biopsy but for other procedures as well," said Elvira Lang, MD, associate professor of radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. "Hypnosis can greatly help women cope with the stress of breast biopsy." In addition to the helping the patients, use of hypnosis appears to reduce both costs of procedures and the time it takes to perform them, perhaps because patients do not move as much and allow for an easier operation, Dr. Lang said in a press briefing November 29th. Her presentation was delivered later that day to the RSNA attendees. For the study, Dr. Lang and colleagues recruited 236 women who were undergoing breast biopsy procedures. During the procedure, 76 women received the standard care; 82 received empathetic care from a person trained to make the patient feel at ease; and 78 were read the hypnosis script during the procedure. Postoperative pain was reduced significantly (P = .0024) in the patients receiving empathetic care and among those receiving hypnosis (P = .0018) when compared with patients who received usual care. The difference between empathy and hypnosis was not significant. For anxiety, patients receiving standard care were significantly more anxious after the procedure when compared with baseline anxiety levels (P < .001). Those who had an empathetic person nearby showed no change from baseline anxiety. Those receiving hypnotherapy showed a significant decline in anxiety (P < .001). Dr. Lang said there were 7 adverse events among people getting standard care, 11 in the empathy group and 3 adverse events in the hypnosis patients. Standard care biopsies were performed in an average of 46 minutes; patients getting empathetic assistances had their average biopsy take 43 minutes; patients under hypnotherapy were finished in an average of 39 minutes. Median costs of the large core biopsy procedure amounted to $161 among the standard care patients, $163 among the empathy patients, and $152 among the hypnotherapy patients. That cost was reduced to $137.50 if there was someone on the biopsy team that could perform the task of doing the hypnosis. Dr. Lang did not perform statistical analyses on the time and costs. "Physicians are trained from their earliest days in the profession about the positive use of interaction with the patient. We don't use that often enough," commented Michael Brant-Zawadzki, MD, medical director of the Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach, California, who moderated the press briefing on behalf of the RSNA. "I've heard of similar approaches for hypnotherapy." REFERENCE:
[Presentation title: Adjunctive Self-hypnotic Relaxation During Image-Guided Large Core Needle Biopsy of the Breast: A Prospective Randomized Trial. Abstract SSM01-04]
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