Hypnotherapy and recovery after keyhole surgery for the gall bladder

Pre-operative hypnotherapy and recovery after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a randomised controlled trial

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN87316215

Enrollment

Registered

2010-12-03

Start date

2010-12-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2020-04-06

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Surgical removal of the gall bladder for the treatment of cholelithiasis (gallstones) or cholecystitis (inflammation of the gall bladder) Surgery Cholelithiasis

Interventions

1. Audiotape of hypnotherapy (created and recorded by an experienced clinical hypnotherapist) 2. Audiotape of white noise (white noise produced by combining sounds of all different fre

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Aged 18 - 90 years, either sex 2. Diagnosis of cholelithiasis and/or cholecystitis 3. Requiring elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy 4. Under the care of two named surgeons at York Hospital

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Under the age of 18 or over the age of 90 years 2. Diagnosis of cholelithiasis but requiring an open cholecystectomy 3. Requiring surgery for reasons other than cholelithiasis and/or cholecystitis 4. Requiring emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy 5. Received hypnosis within the past 3 months 6. Current and/or past history of psychiatric illness 7. Regular use of prescribed analgesics (i.e. on repeat prescription for analgesics) 8. Severe cognitive impairment 9. Hearing impairment (the study involves listening to audio tapes) 10. Not able to understand English

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Pain using a numeric pain scale where 0 is 'no pain' and 10 is 'worst pain imaginable'. Primary outcome is level of pain 24 hours after surgery.	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Pain using a numeric pain scale where 0 is 'no pain' and 10 is 'worst pain imaginable'. Secondary pain outcomes measured at 4 hours, 4 days, 1 week, 2 weeks after surgery. 2. Use of pain relief medication in first two weeks after surgery 3. Blood pressure and heart rate measured on admission, at anaesthetic induction, 30 minutes into surgery, 30 minutes after regaining consciousness, 6 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours after surgery 4. Quality of life using the SF-36. Measured before surgery, day 1 after surgery, 1 week, 4 weeks and 4 months after surgery	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Pain using a numeric pain scale where 0 is 'no pain' and 10 is 'worst pain imaginable'. Secondary pain outcomes measured at 4 hours, 4 days, 1 week, 2 weeks after surgery. 2. Use of pain relief medication in first two weeks after surgery 3. Blood pressure and heart rate measured on admission, at anaesthetic induction, 30 minutes into surgery, 30 minutes after regaining consciousness, 6 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours after surgery 4. Quality of life using the SF-36. Measured before surgery, day 1 after surgery, 1 week, 4 weeks and 4 months after surgery

—

Countries

United Kingdom

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026