High touch, high tech in the O.R - the use of alternative therapies in the operating room and in pre- and post-operative patients - Medicine

Most mainstream surgeons say non-invasive medicine has no place under the glare of operating room lights. But doctors at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center have demonstrated that self-hypnosis and guided routine heart surgery.

"[The study] has been an important breakthrough for us," says Mehmet Oz, M.D., cardiac surgeon and director of the medical center's Complementary Care Program. The study, whose working title is "Self-hypnosis and Coronary Bypass Surgery," has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery.

To measure the impact of these techniques, 20 out of 32 cardiac patients were taught various relaxation exercises, including deep breathing and guided imagery that focused on keeping their incision free from infection, minimizing bleeding and reducing pain and discomfort. Those who "exercised" before and after open-heart surgery showed significantly reduced anxiety, pain, infection and symptom reoccurrence after surgery as well as better overall cardiac functioning. Researchers noted that patients under anesthesia who were treated with therapeutic touch and guided imagery also had different brain wave patterns than the control group.

Howard Levin, M.D., an attending cardiologist at Columbia-Presbyterian, says these results will go a long way toward convincing hospital administrators that alternative care can cut costs. "These methods are proven money savers," he says. The Complementary Care Program was founded in 1994 and now uses yoga, tai chi, massage, guided imagery, acupressure and hypnosis to relax patients before surgery, and improve response during and after. By the end of the year, the hospital will have launched five more clinical investigations to measure the benefits of noninvasive treatment. Plans are now in the works to introduce patients to an aromatherapist, in the hopes that certain scents can relax patients and promote pre- and post-operative healing. Use of alternative therapies is also being expanded from cardiology into urology, neurology and pediatrics.

Although they now bask in the glow of official recognition, it wasn't easy bringing non-traditional health care workers into a main stream medical center two years ago. Oz says he had to pass them off as "amenities"--like hairdressers and shoe shine people--to the hospital's skeptical medical board. "You could get a massage the same way you got a manicure," he says. Jery Whitworth, a cardiac nurse who also directs the Complementary Care Program, adds that some patients were also resistant at first: "We would say 'yoga' and they thought we were going to shave their heads and dress them in orange."