The efficacy of hypnosis in the reduction of procedural pain and distress in pediatric oncology

Children who suffer from cancer have to endure regular, painful medical procedures that are associated with a considerable degree of psychosocial distress. Hypnosis has been successfully employed in the management of pain and distress in the adult population, but is not well studied in pediatric populations. This review systematically evaluates the systematic research conducted in the field of procedure-related pain management in pediatric oncology within the context of a nationally agreed framework for the assessment of research evidence. It is concluded that there is not currently enough robust research evidence to recommend that hypnosis should form part of best practice guidelines for the management of procedure-related pain in pediatric oncology. However, there is sufficient evidence to justify larger-scale, appropriately controlled studies. A number of recommendations are made regarding future research.

J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2004 Jun;25(3):207-13. Wild MR, Espie CA. Section of Psychological Medicine, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. m.wild@clinmed.gla.ac.uk