Brooks Memorial Hospital - The Observer

Page 20 Medical Directory 2011For some, hypnosis eases pain, recovery of surgeryMARIA CHENGAP Medical WriterLONDON — As the surgeonscut into her neck,Marianne Marquis was thinkingof the beach.As she heard the doctors’voices, she was imagining hertoes in the sand, the waterlapping.Marquis had been hypnotizedbefore surgery to haveher thyroid removed. She’samong a growing number ofsurgical patients at theBelgian hospital, CliniquesUniversitaires St. Luc inBrussels, who choose hypnosisand a local anesthetic toavoid the groggy knockouteffect of general anesthesia.These patients are sedatedbut aware, and doctors saytheir recovery time is fasterand their need for painkillersreduced. This method is feasiblefor only certain types ofoperations.In her case, Marquis, 53,imagined herself in a fieldnear a beach — which heranesthetist began describingby whispering into her earabout 10 minutes beforesurgery. She remembers hearingthe doctors talk to her, butsaid it was as if they were faraway.“I was imagining squishingmy toes in the sand and feelingwater come up overthem,” Marquis said. She felta little pressure on her neckwith the first incision but saidit wasn’t painful.Since doctors began offeringhypnosis at the hospital in2003, hundreds of patientshave chosen it. At anotherBelgian hospital, more than8,000 surgeries have beendone this way since 1992.Doctors say nearly anysurgery usually done with alocal anesthetic could workwith hypnosis and less painmedicine. Proponents sayhypnosis can dull patients’sense of pain and that it alsoAP PhotoIn this photo anesthesiologist Dr Fabienne Roelants, right, monitors hypnotizedpatient Christel Place as doctor Michel Mourad, center, performs thyroid surgery inthe operating theater of the Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc Hospital in Brussels. Atthe hospital, one third of all surgeries to remove thyroids and one quarter of all breastcancer surgeries are performed using hypnosis and local anesthetic.cuts down on the need foranesthetic.That means patients recoverfaster and hospitals savemoney, according to somestudies. But it may requiredoctors to spend more timewith patients beforehand todo the hypnosis and they mayneed more careful monitoringduring surgery.The technique has becomespecial hypnosis branch intheir organization last year.There are no figures onhow widely hypnosis is usedacross Europe. In several ofthe nearly dozen French hospitalsin Rennes, a northwestcity of about 200,000 people,it’s used in about half of alloperations, says Claude Virot,a psychiatrist and director ofthe Institute of Research andMarquis’increasingly popular in Training in TherapeuticFrance and Belgium in recent Communication there. Virotyears. Some plastic and facialsurgeons in Germany also usehypnosis, as well as someBritish dental surgeons.The French Society ofAnesthesiologists describeshypnosis as a valid way tosupplement anesthesia toreduce stress, anxiety andpain but neither the Belgiannor British anesthesiologygroups offer specific hypnosisadvice. Because of demand,the French Society ofAnesthesiologists created ahelps organize hypnosis trainingand said about 500 healthprofessionals get it every yearin France.Dr. Fabienne Roelants,anesthetist,described hypnosis as a modifiedstate of consciousness.“The patient’s mind goes to apleasant place, but the bodystays in the operating room.”See HYPNOSIS,Page 22Dr. John R. TallettGynecologistCall For An Appointment672-4040Accepting New Patients268 W. Main St., Fredonia