According to a team of French researchers, hypnosis would prove to be as effective and comfortable as conventional general anesthesia during various surgeries, in particular breast, and allow better postoperative recovery.
Will medical hypnosis one day replace general anesthesia in operating theaters? This technique, which combines hypnosis with conscious sedation (where drugs are used to make the patient more relaxed while remaining conscious) and local anesthesia to block pain, is regularly used. used at Institut Curie, in Paris, where it has been experienced since 2015 by the team of Dr Aurore Marcou, an anesthesiologist and hypnotherapist.
Many clinical studies had already demonstrated the interest of hypnosis to relieve pain and anxiety related to cancer disease or its treatments. For the past three years, Dr Marcou has regularly used this technique during breast cancer operations, including for partial and total mastectomies, as well as in ENT surgery. Limiting the need for drugs, hypnosis would also have the advantage of reducing the adverse effects of general anesthesia and allow better postoperative recovery.
During the congress Euroanaesthesia from Copenhagen, Denmark, Dr Marcou and his team presented their work which, according to them, show that hypnosis is a valid alternative to conventional general anesthesia. “By minimizing the effects of anesthesia on vital functions while preserving the well-being of patients, it contributes to the sustainable development of anesthesia,” says the anesthetist.
Comfort for 99% of patients
To reach this conclusion, the team of researchers carried out a retrospective study on 150 patients with cancer treated at the Institut Curie between 2011 and 2017 and whose operations were performed under hypnosedation. In addition to hypnosis, all of them received an intravenous supply of remifentanil, a pain reliever that makes patients feel comfortable. Local or locoregional anesthesia was performed depending on the type and location of the surgery, but patients remained conscious throughout the procedure.
Breast surgeries account for 90% of surgeries in the study, the remaining 10% include gynecologic surgeries, colposcopy and superficial plastic surgeries. The average duration of the interventions was 60 minutes and the average length of stay in the recovery room was 35 minutes. The patients were between 18 and 100 years old with an average of 60.5 years, 22% were over 75 years old. Individuals were grouped according to the severity of their condition, with 2% classified as having severe heart, respiratory, or kidney failure that seriously questioned the value of using general anesthesia. traditional.
The authors found that in 99% of cases, hypnosis was received in a manner that was comfortable for both the patient and the surgeon. Patient discomfort occurred in only two cases, and in both cases general anesthesia was quickly and easily implemented. For the authors, it is evident that “hypnosis can be offered as a useful alternative to general anesthesia in various types of surgeries, including major breast surgeries. By minimizing the effects of anesthesia, this technique is particularly useful. valuable for vulnerable patients “.
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