Background: Hypnosis has a positive effect on peri-operative anxiety and pain.
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a formal deep hypnosis session on the consumption of propofol for anaesthetic induction using automated administration of propofol guided by the bispectral index (BIS) in a closed loop.
Design: A 1 : 1 randomised, usual-care-controlled, single-centre trial.
Setting: Tertiary care centre in France from April 2014 to December 2015.
Patients: Female adult patients scheduled for outpatient gynaecological surgery under general anaesthesia.
Intervention: Before surgery, patients were randomised to receive either a deep hypnosis session or routine care. Anaesthetic induction was performed automatically by propofol without opioids and was assisted by the BIS in a closed loop.
Main outcome measures: The primary endpoint was the propofol dose required for anaesthesia induction, defined as a BIS less than 60 for at least 30 s.
Results: Data for 31 patients in the hypnosis group and 35 in the control group were analysed. There was no evidence of a difference in the mean required propofol dose for anaesthetic induction between the hypnosis and the control groups (2.06 mg kg (95% confidence interval [1.68 to 2.43]) versus 1.79 mg kg (95% CI [1.54 to 2.03]), P = 0.25, respectively).
Conclusion: The current study, which was designed to determine the effect of a deep hypnosis session on anaesthesia induction using an automated tool for propofol administration, failed to detect a difference in the required dose of propofol.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02249364.