Dec 11 (HealthCentersOnline) - Hypnosis may help ease pain and induce relaxation in women undergoing breast biopsy, according to a new study. The study was conducted by researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Harvard Medical School in Boston.

A breast biopsy is a diagnostic procedure performed to rule out or confirm diagnosis of breast cancer in patients. During the procedure, a sample of breast tissue and/or fluid is obtained and sent to a laboratory for analysis by a pathologist. Depending on the type of breast biopsy performed, the tissue/fluid may be obtained by:

• Needle biopsy. In this procedure, a needle is inserted into the suspicious area or body cavity and fluid and cells are aspirated (drawn out) with a vacuum syringe. There are two major types of needle biopsy, fine needle aspiration (FNA) or core biopsy (which uses a larger needle than FNA).

• Surgical biopsy. A surgeon makes an incision through the skin or the involved structure and removes a small part of the tumor or the entire tumor. Surgical biopsy typically involves the use of an anesthetic.

Diagnostic tests for cancer can be highly stressful for patients, especially minimally invasive ones that do not typically involve the use of anesthesia (e.g., needle biopsy), which helps reduce pain and anxiety.

For this study, researchers assessed 236 women undergoing core biopsy. The study participants were randomly assigned three types of care during the procedure. Seventy-six women received standard care, 82 women received structural care with a person specifically assigned to be responsive to their needs, and 78 women induced self-hypnotic relaxation under guidance from a trained research assistant.

The researchers then compared the care techniques used during the core biopsies, including how much pain and anxiety were experienced by the participants in addition to procedure time and cost.

While all study participants had elevated levels of anxiety, it was seen to decrease significantly in the group of women who were coached on self-hypnotic relaxation. All three groups reported experiencing pain during the procedure, but the women who had an assigned caretaker and those who underwent self-hypnotic relaxation reported experiencing significantly less pain than the women who received standard care. Even though procedure time and cost did not differ significantly among all three groups, the hypnosis group had the shortest procedure time and cost.

"Hypnosis can greatly help women cope with the stress of a breast biopsy. The findings show that nonpharmacologic means can be very powerful, without side effects," said Dr. Elvira V. Lang, associate professor at radiology at Harvard and head of the study, in a recent press release.

Dr. Lang added that the self-hypnotic relaxation method has been successfully applied to a number of other invasive procedures.

The study, which was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was presented last month at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

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