Hypnosis instead of general anaesthesia in paediatric radiotherapy: reportof three cases

Purpose: This report proposes hypnosis as a valid alternative to general an aesthesia for immobilisation and set-up in certain cases in paediatric radi otherapy. Methods: We report three cases of children who underwent radiotherapy in 19 94 and were treated using hypnosis for set-up during irradiation. The first and the second were two cases of macroscopic resection of cerebellar medul loblastoma in which craniospinal irradiation was necessary, while the third patient suffered of an endorbitary relapse of retinoblastoma previously tr eated with bilateral enucleation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy; in this la st situation the child needed radiation as palliative therapy. Hypnosis was used during treatment to obtain the indispensable immobility. Hypnotic con ditioning was obtained by our expert psychotherapist while the induction du ring every single treatment was made by the clinician, whose voice was pres ented to the children during the conditioning. Results: Every single fraction of the radiation therapy was delivered in hy pnosis and without the need for narcosis. Conclusions: Hypnosis may be useful in particular situations to prepare pae diatric cancer patients during irradiation, when lack of child collaboratio n might necessitate the use of general anaesthesia and when anaesthesia its elf is not possible. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science ireland Ltd. All rights rese rved.