Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Objective Nociceptive Assessment in Ventilated ICU Patients: A Feasibility Study Using Pupillometry and the Nociceptive Flexion Reflex
Published on: July 4, 2018
Aroma oil therapy in palliative care: a pilot study with physiological parameters in conscious as well as unconscious
Melanie Goepfert1, Patrick Liebl2, Natalie Herth1
1Working Group Integrative Oncology, Dr. Senckenberg Chronomedical Institute, J. W. Goethe University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt, Germany.
Objective:
The aim of this pilot study is to analyze the reactions of healthy test persons and conscious as well as unconscious palliative patients to aroma stimuli.
Patients And Methods:
In a randomized controlled study, healthy probands, conscious and unconscious palliative patients were exposed to two essential oils (lemon, lavender). Water was used as the control stimulus. Physiological parameters (breathing rate and heart rate, oxygen saturation, systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure) were measured.
Results:
10 test persons (control group), 15 conscious patients and 5 unconscious palliative patients were exposed to the stimuli. Healthy test persons reacted to lemon oil with a significant increase in respiration rate, heart rate and diastolic blood pressure, whereas to lavender oil with a significant decrease in respiration rate was measured. There were no significant reactions concerning the other parameters. Conscious and unconscious patients reacted with a significant increase in all measured parameters to lemon oil and with a significant decrease in all parameters except for oxygen saturation to lavender oil. No significant differences in the reactions were measured between the conscious and unconscious patients and no significant reactions to control stimuli were detected. All physiological reactions were very short and only detectable during stimulus presentation.
Conclusion:
Significant physiological reactions were measured after simulation with aroma oils in all three groups in this study. Healthy probands showed different reactions than palliative patients irrespective to their conscious state.
Related Concept Videos
Techniques of therapeutic communication I: Active Listening, Sharing Observations, Validation, and Using Touch
Therapeutic communication is not the same as social interaction. Social interaction has no goal or purpose and consists of casual information sharing, whereas therapeutic communication has a plan or purpose for the conversation. Therapeutic...
Treatment for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Oxygen Therapy for Respiratory Failure
Oxygen therapy is vital in increasing and maintaining blood oxygen levels in PAH patients. As a result, it aids in reducing fatigue,...
Continuing Care
Assessment of Airway, Skin Color, and Use of Accessory Muscles
Introduction
The initial evaluation of a patient's respiratory system...
Olfaction
The olfactory receptors are embedded in the cilia of the...
Respiratory Assessment: Purpose and Indications
Objectives and Importance:
The primary goal of respiratory assessment is to evaluate patients at early risk of clinical deterioration. Since respiratory distress often precedes other signs of declining health, breathing patterns and sounds become a...

