A randomized trial of hypnosis for relief of pain and anxiety...

Pain and anxiety are closely associated with bone marrow aspirates and biopsies. To determine whether hypnosis administered concurrently with the procedure can ameliorate these morbidities, the authors randomly assigned 80 cancer patients undergoing bone marrow aspirates and biopsies to either hypnosis or standard of care. The hypnosis intervention reduced the anxiety associated with procedure, but the difference in pain scores between the two groups was not statistically significant. The authors conclude that brief hypnosis concurrently administered reduces patient anxiety during bone marrow aspirates and biopsies but may not adequately control pain. The authors explain this latter finding as indicating that the sensory component of a patient's pain experience may be of lesser importance than the affective component. The authors describe future studies to clarify their results and address the limitations of this study.

J Psychosoc Oncol. 2012 May;30(3):281-93. Snow A, Dorfman D, Warbet R, Cammarata M, Eisenman S, Zilberfein F, Isola L, Navada S. a Department of Social Work Services , Mount Sinai Medical Center , New York , NY , USA.