Thuma K, Ditsataporncharoen T, Arunpongpaisal S, Siripul P
J Med Assoc Thai. 2016 Aug;99 Suppl 5:S141-7.
AbstractBACKGROUND:
Many factors contribute to pain in cancer patients. Hypnotherapy is the mental processes, involving conscious and unconscious awareness to understanding of the pain to correct thought, improve emotional acceptance, and reduce pain by the patient themselves.
OBJECTIVE:
To examine the effects of hypnotherapy on pain reduction in the patient’s with head and neck cancer after radiation therapy.
MATERIAL AND METHOD:
A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted with the 68 patients who were divided into two groups, i.e., 34 patients undergoing hypnotherapy and 34 patients received usual care. Visual analogue scales (VAS) were used for pain assessment.
RESULTS:
Sixty-eight patients were recruited in the present study and half were randomly assigned to hypnotherapy group. One participant in the treatment and two participants in the control groups discontinued before the end of the study. Demographic data were comparable in the two groups. No complication was found during, immediately after, or five days after the procedure. After adjusted with baseline, gender, age, non-opioid, week-opioid, and strong-opioid, hypnosistreatment demonstrated significantly less pain score -1.966, (95% CI -2.260 to -1.673, p-value <0.001) than the control group.
CONCLUSION:
Hypnosis can reduce pain in patients with head and neck cancer after radiation therapy and it is much better when using combination with the strong opioids. The hypnosis command can be used to reduce chronic pain for cancer patients with head and neck in addition to the usual treatments. Relationships between clinician and patient, patient’s knowledge, exploring patient’s difficulties, and hypnosis training are all important factors to be considered before the hypnotherapy.