Results
Twenty-four patients were recruited (16 males; figure 1). From them, one
patient did not complete the evaluation and was excluded. The OSAS
features of patients were described in Table 1. The mean patient age was
50.8 yo. The mean body mass index was 26.6. The hypnosis was ineffective
in one patient because important septal deviation and pain during the
third hypnosis session (4.3%). Another patient adhered to hypnosis
after the second session. Most patients had moderate OSAS at the PSG
(Table 1). The patient satisfaction outcomes were reported in Table 1.
The nasofibroscopic examination was well-tolerated, while the level of
stress during the HISE was low. Otolaryngologist adequately completed
the VOTE scoring in 23 patients (95.7%; Table 2). The most common
anatomical region of obstruction were velum and oropharynx. The
satisfaction of otolaryngologist was high. Otolaryngologist reported
patient reaction during the hypnosis process when the fiberscope touched
the soft palate in 45% of cases (N=11), but that was not associated
with wake-up or an inability to continue the examination. The hypnosis
practitioner reported adequate satisfaction outcomes, with better
results for trance compliance (Table 1). There were no adverse effects
or complications throughout the process of study.
The multivariate analysis reported a negative association between the
percentage of snoring and the consciousness state of hypnosis
(rs=-0.527; p=0.012). The level of patient pain during
the first nasofibroscopic examination was positively associated with the
following outcomes: level of stress during the HISE
(rs=0.581; p=0.004), the VOTE scoring
(rs=0.421; p=0.046), the adherence of the first hypnosis
session (rs=0.517; p=0.012) and the overall satisfaction
of hypnosis practitioner (rs=0.675; p=0.001). There were
significant positive associations between the level of difficulty to
perform nasofibroscopy and related VOTE scoring and the following
outcomes: level of patient stress during HISE (rs=0.492;
p=0.017), and during trance (rs=0.691; p=0.001). At most
the nasofibroscopic examination was difficult to perform, at most the
muscle relaxation (rs=0.440; p=0.036) and the
consciousness (rs=0.604; p=0.002) steps were difficult.