Breast cancer patients can find some relief from the pain usually experienced during and after surgery by being hypnotized, according to a new study.

A report published online in the Aug. 28 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute claims that women who received hypnosis before going through breast cancer surgery experienced significantly less painful discomfort.

Guy Montgomery, lead author of the report and associate professor in the department of oncological sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, says the patients needed less anesthetic during surgery and reported less pain afterwards.

Other positive side effects were the reduced length of the procedure (by about 11 minutes) and the reduction of the cost of the surgery – some $773 (£400).

“This helps women at a time when they could use help, and it has no side effects. It really only has side benefits,” Montgomery said.

Pain, nausea and fatigue are all common side effects that the patients are faced with, both during and after breast cancer surgery, as well as emotional distress. However, the 200 women who participated in Montgomery’s project showed that the situation can be improved.

Half of these 200 women went through a 15-minute hypnosis session with a psychologist an hour before surgery, while the other half simply talked about the surgery with a psychologist.

Those hypnotized were helped to relax and advised by the psychologist on techniques to reduce pain, nausea, and discomfort after the surgery.

The results?

Less pain, less discomfort, less time in surgery and lowered expenses.

Montgomery emphasized that hypnosis, unlike many of the drugs used to reduce the pain and discomfort breast cancer surgery patients experience, has no side effects. He also noted that hypnosis could well help patients undergoing other types of surgery.

“If a drug were to do that, everyone would be using it by now,” David Spiegel, M.D., of the psychiatry and behavioral sciences department at Stanford University's medical school, writes in an accompanying editorial.