The magazine of the european research area European Commission Copenhagen, a missed chance?

Christine Watremez (left) and Fabienne Roelants, two of four specialists from the Hôpital Saint-Luc 

(Brussels), both trained in hypno-anaesthesia.

© Laur

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28 research

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eu No. 63 | APRIL 2010

Marie-Elisabeth Faymonville also 

put  together an international training pro-

gramme in Liège. This has been taken so 

far  by  450 anaesthetists, including Swiss, 

Luxembourg and Canadian practitioners, but 

especially large numbers of French. France too 

has a major training centre at Rennes. Germany 

and Austria are also beginning to show interest 

in the practice.

Hypno-sedation or hypno-analgesia?

When hypno-anaesthesia is used, sedation 

is either removed, in which case we talk 

of hypno-analgesia, or significantly reduced, 

in which case we talk of hypno-sedation. In 

Liège it is the latter that is practised, in Brussels 

they have preferred hypno-analgesia over the 

past several years. “We do not want to interfere 

with the hypnotic process by using a sedative. 

If the patient is comfortable, it is not neces-

sary”, says Christine Watremez.

The next day, our patient will therefore 

receive only analgesics: a local product 

to desensitise the zone to be operated on and 

a light morphine derivative that the anaesthetist 

will dose as a function of the patient’s needs. 

“In fact we often reduce the dose, and at times 

we even stop the pump”, Christine Watremez 

explains. And it is in Sicily that Jean will allow 

his mind to wander. “During the preoperative 

consultation, I explained what hypnosis is, tell-

ing him that he would not sleep and would 

remain conscious. I told him he could change 

his mind whenever he wanted. Whether 

for surgical reasons or because the patient 

asks for it, we need to be able to switch to 

a  general anaesthetic at any time. All our 

equipment is ready and waiting for this, and 

the monitoring task is exactly the same.” Jean 

had just one small job to do: finding a pleasant 

memory he wanted to relive. This would be his 

golden wedding, in the country of Bellini.

The transfigured operating theatre

“Can you hear, there, behind you? We can 

already hear your heart. There will be other 

noises as well, doors opening, perhaps people 

coming in or going out, talking… And then 

there will be the smells… the normal smells 

of a hospital. All these little things that are part 

of our daily lives, and which will be part of 

your environment during the coming hours. 

Here, the first infusion is in place, and we will