Third round of surgery without anaesthetic for Worthing hypnotherapist
A HYPNOTHERAPIST from Worthing has undergone surgery without anaesthetic for the third time.
Alex Lenkei, 62, from Strathmore Close, underwent around 50 minutes of keyhole surgery on both ankles, in which surgeons sawed through bones as part of a procedure tackling his painful arthritis.
Mr Lenkei was conscious but in a self-induced hypnotic state throughout the procedure and listened to surgical gossip between the doctors as REM played on the stereo.
Feel operation
"It was quite good," said Mr Lenkei.
"I could feel them operating. I could feel them moving the joint about and sawing through the bone, but there was no pain.
"It makes the healing process a heck of a lot better.
"Every time I do this stuff is surprising, but nobody is interested in doing any actual tests into what is actually happening when I'm under hypnosis; what prevents the pain.
"I just can't understand why they're not interested."
Surgeon's surprise
The surgical team who performed the operation admitted they were amazed by Mr Lenkei.
Simon Palmer, consultant foot and ankle surgeon, said he was happy to perform the surgery under the unusual conditions, provided it didn't delay his other patients.
He said: "He had obvious arthritis of the ankles so we cleared lots of extra bone which had formed.
"We were using small burrs and shavers, shaving away bone. It's not the sort of thing you could have under local anaesthetic.
"There are only two small incisions, very small, but you are examining the whole ankle so you are inflicting surgical damage throughout."
Not for everyone
Mr Palmer said he wasn't sure hypnotherapy had a universal application –
"You can't just send all your patients on hypno-therapy courses" – but said Mr Lenkei's abilities were well worthy of investigation.
He said: "He is unique. An absolutely fascinating case.
"Research should be done on him; neurology, a brain scan, that side of things.
"There's very weird diseases where people get paralysed legs and arms and it's all in the subconscious.
"But he does it all himself. Most things are brought on by an event or being hypnotised but he does it on his own.
"He can switch it on and off. That's the amazing thing."
How does he do it?
Stellios Panayiotou, consultant anaesthetist, said the monitoring of Mr Lenkei's heart rate and blood pressure would have revealed if he was feeling the pain but being "stoical" and pretending not to feel it.
He said: "My only experience of hypnotism is probably stage hypnotists. I've not seen it practised in a clinical sense.
"I didn't really have an idea of what he was going to do and I asked him how to recognise when he was in that state.
"He said 'give it 30 seconds and we will be ready'.
"In any operation under general anaesthetic, the surgeon always asks the anaesthetist if the patient is ready.
"Mr Palmer did that – and I then asked the patient. It was weird."
Third time lucky
The operation took place at Southlands Hospital in Shoreham and follows Mr Lenkei's operation at Worthing Hospital last April, also without anaesthetic, when a walnut-sized chunk of bone was cut from his right wrist.
See video of Mr Lenkei after the operation on his hand.
See more pictures from Mr Lenkei's hand surgery here.
His first operation without medical pain relief took place in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1996, where he was attended by a nurse who, coincidentally, now works at Southlands and was involved in his ankle operation.
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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