Assessment of the Contribution of Hypnosis in the Tolerance of the Bronchoscopy

Bronchoscopy is an examination performed routinely in pulmonology. This exam is considered as uncomfortable by nearly 60% of patients, especially due to respiratory blocking sensation, cough and nausea it causes, despite the use of a local anesthetic. Conversely, this examination is rarely performed under general anesthesia in hospitals in France, because it lengthens the duration of the procedure, increases its cost and can be dangerous for the respiratory failure patient.

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep, which can cause the patient to ignore the reality in which he is focusing his attention on his imagination, reducing his anxiety, his painful or unpleasant perceptions and their memorization.

The hypnosis benefit has already been evaluated in the control of pain and anxiety in many medical situations, surgical, obstetric and dental. In endoscopy, the results are mixed. In bronchoscopy, hypnosis has, to our knowledge, not been evaluated.

In a preliminary study in the endoscopy unit of the Hospital Saint Joseph, involving 66 patients, investigators showed that bronchoscopy was poorly tolerated in more than half of patients and that this poor tolerance was correlated to the level anxiety of patients, but 75% of patients surveyed would prefer the waning redo the examination in the same conditions if their health required it, rather than using a general anesthetic. Investigators then hypothesized that hypnosis would improve tolerance bronchoscopy under local anesthesia, without the need for general anesthesia.