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Updated: May 23, 2025
CO2-Lasertonsillotomy Under Local Anesthesia in Adults
Published on: November 6, 2019
Reducing Perioperative Anxiety and Postoperative Discomfort in Children With Hypnosis Before Tonsillotomy and
Barbara Schmidt1, Claudia Thomas2, Antje Göttermann2
1Institute for Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psychooncology Jena University Hospital Jena Germany.
Insights
A hypnosis audio intervention did not significantly reduce anxiety or discomfort in children undergoing tonsillotomy or adenoidectomy compared to a comic alone. Further research is needed on non-medicated children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric surgery
- Anesthesiology
- Psychology
Background:
- Tonsillotomy (TT) and adenoidectomy (AT) can cause significant preoperative anxiety and postoperative discomfort in children.
- Parental anxiety is linked to increased postoperative distress in children.
- Previous research developed a narcosis comic to mitigate preoperative anxiety.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of a preoperative hypnosis audio intervention in reducing perioperative anxiety in children undergoing TT or AT.
- To determine if hypnosis reduces postoperative discomfort, including pain and nausea.
- To compare outcomes between a comic+hypnosis group and a comic-only group.
Main Methods:
- A randomized controlled trial involving children aged 3-6 years undergoing TT or AT.
- Participants were divided into a comic+hypnosis group (n=34) and a comic-only group (n=30).
- Data collected included subjective well-being, parental anxiety (STAI-S), intraoperative anxiety (mYPAS), and postoperative pain.
Main Results:
- Both groups reported high well-being (distress ~2/10) and low to moderate anxiety during surgery (mYPAS ~33).
- Parental anxiety levels were moderate in both groups (STAI-S ~42).
- No significant differences were found in any postoperative outcomes, including pain (max ~5/10), between the groups.
Conclusions:
- The hypnosis audio intervention, when added to a narcosis comic, did not provide additional benefits in reducing perioperative anxiety or postoperative discomfort.
- All children experienced high well-being and low anxiety, suggesting the comic intervention alone may be effective.
- Future studies should explore the additive effects of non-pharmacological interventions in non-medicated children.
Background And Aims:
Children undergoing tonsillotomy (TT) or adenoidectomy (AT) often suffer from anxiety before and pain or nausea afterward. Greater preoperative anxiety in children and their parents is associated with increased postoperative discomfort. The aim of our study is to test if a preoperative hypnosis intervention reduces perioperative anxiety and thereby alleviates postoperative discomfort.
Methods:
In a previous study, we developed a narcosis comic to reduce children's preoperative anxiety. Now, we investigate whether a hypnosis audio intervention further reduces children's perioperative anxiety. Here, a little monkey describes the surgery as an adventurous space journey. We included children 3-6 years old receiving TT or AT. Thirty-four children prepared for the surgery with the hypnosis audio intervention in addition to the comic (comic+hypnosis group), while 30 children received the comic only (comic group). All children received preoperative sedation via midazolam. We measured children's subjective well-being before and after surgery, parents' anxiety before surgery, children's anxiety during surgery, and children's postoperative pain.
Results:
Children showed high well-being before and after surgery in both groups with subjective distress ratings around 2 out of 10. Parents' anxiety was on a moderate level in both groups with anxiety ratings around 42 on the STAI-S scale from 20 to 80. Children's anxiety was low to moderate in both groups during surgery with mYPAS ratings of 33 on a scale from 20 to 100. In the postoperative telephone interviews, children reported medium pain ratings with maximum pain values around 5 out of 10 in both groups with no significant differences in any postoperative outcome between groups.
Conclusion:
Our study shows that all children participating in our study reported high well-being and low anxiety. In future studies, it should be assessed if the combination of nonmedical interventions like narcosis comic and hypnosis shows an additive effect in non-medicated children.
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