MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Emmanuel Boselli, MD, PhD Anesthesiology and Intensive Care University Claude Bernard Lyon I University of Lyon Lyon, France Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Boselli: We hypothesized that the use of conversational hypnosis in patients undergoing regional anesthesia procedures for ambulatory upper limb surgery might provide better comfort than the use of oral premedication during the regional anesthesia procedure. We assessed the subjective effect of conversational hypnosis on a patient self-reported comfort scale ranging from 0 (no comfort) to 10 (maximal comfort), and the objective effect was assessed using the Analgesia/Nociception Index (ANI), a 0-100 index derived from heart rate variability reflecting the relative parasympathetic tone. In our study of 100 patients undergoing hand surgery in two different centers, 50 had conversational hypnosis while being given regional anesthesia (Saint-Grégoire hospital), and 50 were given of oral hydroxyzine 30 minutes to an hour before the regional anesthesia procedure (Lyon hospital). Patients having hypnosis measured an average ANI of 51 before and 78 after hypnosis, whereas those who had premedication averaged 63 before and 70 after. The average comfort scale of those who had received hypnosis was 6.7 before and 9.3 after, while patients who had medication averaged 7.8 before and 8.3 after. The main finding of this study is that conversational hypnosis induced greater increase in comfort scales and ANI values than oral premedication. Medical Research: What is conversational hypnosis? What does it consist of? Dr. Boselli: Conversational hypnosis consists of matching the patient's behavioral communication patterns, reflective listening, avoiding any negative suggestion (e.g. "Keep calm and quiet" instead of "Please don't move!") and focalizing the patient's attention on something else than the regional anesthesia procedure, such as the ultrasound machine screen. (more…)