Effects of virtual reality therapy on perceived pain intensity, anxiety, catastrophising and self‐efficacy among adolescents with cancer

The impact of an immersive digital therapeutic tool on experimental pain: a pilot randomized within-subject experiment with an active control condition

Background

Pain is a complex and multifaced sensory and emotional experience. Virtual reality (VR) has shown promise in reducing experimental pain and chronic pain. This study examines an immersive VR environment initially designed for endometriosis patients, which demonstrated short-term analgesic effects. The research aims to determine the impact of the VR environment on experimental pain intensity and unpleasantness both during and after VR exposure (3D with binaural beats), while using an active control condition (2D with no binaural beats). Additionally, a secondary objective of the study was to identify the psychological and psychophysical factors that predict the analgesic effects of the immersive digital therapeutic tool.

Methods

The study involved twenty-one healthy individuals and used a within-subject design, comparing a VR treatment with an active control condition. Continuous heat stimulation was applied to the left forearm with a Peltier thermode. Pain ratings were collected for immediate and short-term effects.

Results

In both the VR and Control conditions, there were no significant differences in pain intensity before, during, and after exposure. However, during VR exposure, there was a significant decrease in pain unpleasantness as compared to before exposure (p < 0.001), with a 27.2% pain reduction. In the Control condition, there were no significant differences in pain unpleasantness during and after exposure. Furthermore, no psychological and psychophysical factors predicted the analgesic effects.

Discussion

The study investigated how a VR environment affected experimentally induced pain in healthy volunteers. It showed that VR reduced pain unpleasantness during exposure but had no lasting impact. The VR environment mainly influenced the emotional aspect of pain, possibly due to its inclusion of binaural beats and natural stimuli. The study suggests that the VR environment should be tested in chronic pain population with high distress levels.

Registration number clinicaltrialsgov

NCT06130267.

Improving immersive experiences in virtual natural setting for public health and environmental design: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

In recent years, virtual reality (VR) technology has emerged as a powerful tool in the field of therapeutic landscapes. For hospitalized patients or individuals with limited mobility, VR provides highly personalized therapy by simulating authentic natural environments within a safe, convenient, and engaging setting. This study investigated the effectiveness of immersing patients in virtual natural environments for health recovery and compared the varying impacts of different types of landscapes on patients' recovery levels. The aim was to complement traditional medical approaches and enhance environmental design in the field of public health. Researchers systematically reviewed databases (January 2018 to August 2, 2023) to identify randomized controlled trials comparing the efficacy of virtual nature immersion with other treatments. The inclusion/exclusion criteria were established based on the population, intervention, comparison, outcomes, study design, and other aspects (expanded PICO) framework. The Cochrane tool was employed to assess the risk of bias. Meta-analysis was conducted by pooling the mean differences with a 95% confidence interval. Among 30 trials, a total of 2123 patients met the inclusion criteria, with 15 studies included in the meta-analysis. 30 trials met the criteria. Results show significant improvements in pain, anxiety, fear, and some physiological indicators with virtual nature-based treatments. On the other hand, natural scenes incorporating blue and green elements have been applied more extensively and have shown more significant effects. In comparison to conventional methods, this study strongly advocates that virtual reality environments are a crucial tool in bridging the gap between patients and nature, demonstrating their potential to reshape medical interventions and improve environmental design in the field of public health.

Leveraging the Academic Artificial Intelligence Silecosystem to Advance the Community Oncology Enterprise

Over the last 75 years, artificial intelligence has evolved from a theoretical concept and novel paradigm describing the role that computers might play in our society to a tool with which we daily engage. In this review, we describe AI in terms of its constituent elements, the synthesis of which we refer to as the AI Silecosystem. Herein, we provide an historical perspective of the evolution of the AI Silecosystem, conceptualized and summarized as a Kuhnian paradigm. This manuscript focuses on the role that the AI Silecosystem plays in oncology and its emerging importance in the care of the community oncology patient. We observe that this important role arises out of a unique alliance between the academic oncology enterprise and community oncology practices. We provide evidence of this alliance by illustrating the practical establishment of the AI Silecosystem at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center and its team utilization by community oncology providers.

Immersive and Non-Immersive Virtual Reality for Pain and Anxiety Management in Pediatric Patients with Hematological or Solid Cancer: A Systematic Review

Invasive and painful procedures, which often induce feelings of anxiety, are necessary components of pediatric cancer treatment, and adequate pain and anxiety management during these treatments is of pivotal importance. In this context, it is widely recognized that a holistic approach, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological modalities, such as distraction techniques, should be the standard of care. Recent evidence suggested the use of virtual reality (VR) as an effective non-pharmacological intervention in pediatrics. Therefore, this systematic review aims to analyze previously published studies on the effectiveness of VR for the management of pain and/or anxiety in children and adolescents with hematological or solid cancer. Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science, ProQuest, CINAHL, and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were used to search for relevant studies in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist. Randomized controlled trial, crossover trial, cluster randomized trial, and quasi-experimental studies were included. Thirteen studies, published between 1999 and 2022, that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included. Regarding the primary outcomes measured, pain was considered in five studies, anxiety in three studies, and the remaining five studies analyzed the effectiveness of VR for both pain and anxiety reduction. Our findings suggested a beneficial effect of VR during painful vascular access procedures. Limited data are available on the reduction of anxiety in children with cancer.

Effects of virtual reality on physical, cognitive, and psychological outcomes in cancer rehabilitation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE

To systematically examine and summarize the current evidence regarding the effects of virtual reality (VR) on physical, cognitive, and psychological outcomes in cancer rehabilitation.

METHODS

Six bioscience and engineering databases were searched. Two independent reviewers screened the titles and abstracts of 2397 records and retrieved 25 full-text articles. Inclusion criteria included patients with a current or previous diagnosis of cancer; VR was used as an intervention for physical, cognitive, or psychological impairments and functional limitations; and clinical trials with at least two arms and with both pre- and post-intervention assessments. Reviewers assessed methodological quality using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale.

RESULTS

Seventeen studies including 799 patients with cancer were identified. Within-group pooled analysis indicated that patients demonstrated significant improvement in pain (P < 0.001), fatigue (P < 0.001), anxiety (P < 0.001), upper extremity function (P < 0.001), and quality of life (P = 0.008) after VR intervention. Between-group pooled analysis indicated significant improvements with VR in pain (P = 0.004), anxiety (P < 0.001), and upper extremity function (P < 0.001) compared with the control. Three studies reported the positive effects of VR on cognition.

CONCLUSIONS

VR demonstrates promising effects in physical, cognitive, and psychological aspects of patients with cancer. VR can be incorporated into a comprehensive cancer rehabilitation program to alleviate impairments and functional limitations.

Virtual reality in chemotherapy support for the treatment of physical functions, fear, and quality of life in pediatric cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Appropriately selected complementary therapies, such as virtual reality (VR) and active video games (AVG), provide support to young patients during the process of cancer treatment. Therefore, this systematic review with meta-analysis aimed to analyze the effects of VR and AVG on fear, physical functions, and quality of life.

Methods

A systematic search was performed independently in Scopus, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library electronic databases for relevant randomized controlled and crossover studies. From a total of 5,963 records, 11 met the inclusion criteria. After full-text screening two publications were excluded, yet six studies were included in the quantitative analysis because three studies had a large discrepancy in their measured outcomes. For methodological quality assessments, the RoB2 software program was used, while RevMan 5.4.1 was used for statistical analysis and meta-analysis. Standard Mean Difference (SMD) outcome measures were used for the analysis. Statistical heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic with a cut-off value of 50% considering intervention and outcome measures.

Results

Our systematic review includes six randomized controlled studies and three randomized crossover studies. The participants represented both sexes and were children and adolescents (<18 years old) with a diagnosis of cancer. The analysis of the results allows for a careful conclusion that VR has the potential to become an accessory tool in rehabilitation and oncologic treatment. All of the included studies noted a significant advantage of this intervention.

Conclusion

VR has the potential to be an effective and important tool in the oncologic treatment of children. VR immerses the patient, and as a result, produces a distraction that effectively reduces pain associated with standard oncologic care procedures in children. However, this systematic review and meta-analysis highlights the need for more research into the use of VR as support for pediatric oncologic care.

Systematic review registration

PROSPERO database (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=319000), CRD42022319000.

Virtual reality and surgical oncology

More than 80% of people diagnosed with cancer will require surgery. However, less than 5% have access to safe, affordable and timely surgery in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) settings mostly due to the lack of trained workforce. Since its creation, virtual reality (VR) has been heralded as a viable adjunct to surgical training, but its adoption in surgical oncology to date is poorly understood. We undertook a systematic review to determine the application of VR across different surgical specialties, modalities and cancer pathway globally between January 2011 and 2021. We reviewed their characteristics and respective methods of validation of 24 articles. The results revealed gaps in application and accessibility of VR with a proclivity for high-income countries and high-risk, complex oncological surgeries. There is a lack of standardisation of clinical evaluation of VR, both in terms of clinical trials and implementation science. While all VR illustrated face and content validity, only around two-third exhibited construct validity and predictive validity was lacking overall. In conclusion, the asynchrony between VR development and actual global cancer surgery demand means the technology is not effectively, efficiently and equitably utilised to realise its surgical capacity-building potential. Future research should prioritise cost-effective VR technologies with predictive validity for high demand, open cancer surgeries required in LMICs.

The State of Science in the Use of Virtual Reality in the Treatment of Acute and Chronic Pain: A Systematic Scoping Review

Previous reviews have reported virtual reality (VR) to be an effective method to treat pain. This scoping review examines the state of the science for VR and pain both generally and by pain type (acute and chronic) related to types of mechanisms, dosage, effectiveness, and adverse events (AEs). We searched online databases PubMed, Web of Science, PsychInfo, and CINAHL from 2010 to 2020 and included studies from peer reviewed journals that examined people with pain, (excluding pain-free participants) with a primary outcome measuring pain. We assessed studies for risk of bias using PEDro criteria. We described data through counts and percentages. Significant results were determined through P-values. We found 70 studies representing 4105 people; 46 acute pain studies (65.7%), 22 chronic pain studies (31.4%), and 2 (2.9%) "both." The most common VR mechanism was distraction (78.6%) then embodiment (17.1%). However, distraction was the mechanism for 97.8% acute pain studies while embodiment was more common for chronic pain (54.5%). Dosage of VR was inconsistently reported and varied considerably. VR treatment groups showed significant improvements in pain, particularly for intensity of pain (72.1%) and quality of pain (75.0%). Few studies examined AEs. Limitations of this review include only examining last 10 years of articles and that many studies were missing data. VR appears to be an effective intervention to address both acute and chronic pain. Research evaluating VR mechanisms, dosage, and AEs is warranted, as is further work in under-served populations (children for chronic pain and older adults) as the current evidence is largely limited to adult populations with pain.

Efectividad de la Realidad Virtual (RV) en la disminución del distrés de niños y adolescentes con cáncer: Revisión sistemática

Introducción: Aunque se han publicado muchos estudios que han intentado demostrar la eficacia de diferentes tratamientos psicológicos en pacientes con cáncer; hasta la fecha no se ha revisado la evidencia disponible sobre la eficacia de la Realidad Virtual (RV) para disminuir el distrés en niños y adolescentes con cáncer. Objetivo: El objetivo principal es evaluar la efectividad de la intervención con Realidad virtual en la disminución del distrés que padecen los niños y adolescentes con cáncer ante los procedimientos médicos, la hospitalización, o la propia enfermedad. Resultados: De los 22 artículos encontrados, se han seleccionado para la revisión un total de 8, que seguían un diseño experimental o cuasiexperimental en pacientes niños y jóvenes diagnosticados de cáncer tratados con RV. Conclusiones: Los resultados, aunque heterogéneos, sugieren mejorías a medio–largo plazo en las variables de ansiedad, depresión, aceptación, calidad de vida, distrés y flexibilidad psicológica. Además, la RV ha resultado ser más eficaz que otras técnicas. De este modo, a pesar de las limitaciones encontradas en este estudio, se han obtenido resultados prometedores para futuras revisiones y/ o metaanálisis.

Upper limb rehabilitation system based on virtual reality for breast cancer patients: Development and usability study

Background

Functional exercise is crucial for breast cancer patients after surgery, and the use of virtual reality technology to assist patients with postoperative upper limb functional rehabilitation has gradually attracted the attention of researchers. However, the usability of the developed rehabilitation system is still unknown to a large extent. The purpose of this study was to develop a virtual reality upper limb rehabilitation system for patients after breast cancer surgery and to explore its usability.

Methods

We built a multidisciplinary team based on virtual reality and human-computer interaction technology and designed and developed an upper limb function rehabilitation system for breast cancer patients after surgery. Breast cancer patients were recruited from a grade III-a general hospital in Changchun city for the experiment. We used the System Usability Scale to evaluate the system availability, the Presence Questionnaire scale to measure the immersive virtual reality scene, and the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire subjective measurement scale for simulator sickness symptoms.

Results

This upper limb rehabilitation system hardware consisted of Head-mounted Display, a control handle and notebook computers. The software consisted of rehabilitation exercises and game modules. A total of 15 patients were tested on this system, all of whom were female. The mean age was 54.73±7.78 years, and no patients were excluded from the experiment because of adverse reactions such as dizziness and vomiting. The System Usability Scale score was 90.50±5.69, the Presence Questionnaire score was 113.40±9.58, the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire-nausea score was 0.93±1.16, the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire-oculomotor score was 0.80±1.27, the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire-disorientation score was 0.80±1.27, and the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire total score was 2.53±3.40.

Conclusions

This study fills in the blanks regarding the upper limb rehabilitation of breast cancer patients based on virtual reality technology system usability research. As the starting point of research in the future, we will improve the system’s function and design strictly randomized controlled trials, using larger samples in the promotion, to evaluate its application in breast cancer patients with upper limbs and other physiological functions and the feasibility and effects of rehabilitation.

The Use of Virtual Reality for Managing Psychological Distress in Adolescents: Systematic Review

Acute and chronic psychological distress are prevalent during adolescence and can have negative impacts on adolescents in all life domains. The aim of this systematic review was to appraise the use of virtual reality (VR) interventions to manage symptoms of psychological distress symptoms among adolescents. MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases were searched up to June 2020. Available citations were de-duplicated and screened by two authors using title and abstract information. A total of 301 articles were retained for full-text evaluation next to eligibility criteria. Empirical studies of all designs and comparator groups were included if these appraised the impact of an immersive VR intervention on any standardized measure indicative of psychological distress in an adolescent sample. Data were extracted into a standardized coding sheet. Results were tabulated and discussed with a narrative synthesis due to the heterogeneity between studies. A total of seven studies met inclusion criteria. There were four randomized controlled trials and three uncontrolled pilot studies on new VR interventions. Distress-related issues included: state-anxiety, venepuncture, risk taking, public speaking anxiety, social anxiety disorder, sexual victimization, and chemotherapy administration. All studies reported significant changes on outcome measures after VR treatment. Six studies reported small-to-large reductions in symptoms. The average attrition rate was 3.6 percent during the active VR treatment phase. Treatment acceptability was high in the studies that assessed user engagement factors. The VR technology can provide a safe, rapidly efficacious, and acceptable treatment modality for managing psychological distress in several key adolescent populations.

Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Interventions for Adolescent Patients in Hospital Settings: Systematic Review

Background

Given the high level of interest and increasing familiarity with virtual reality among adolescents, there is great potential to use virtual reality to address adolescents’ unique health care delivery needs while in hospital. While there have been reviews on the use of virtual reality for specific health conditions and procedures, none to date have reviewed the full scope of virtual reality hospital interventions for adolescents who are often combined with children as a homogenous group, despite the fact that adolescents experience virtual environments different from children.

Objective

The aim of this review was to systematically identify available evidence regarding the use of virtual reality interventions for adolescent patients in hospital settings to evaluate effectiveness, suitability, and safety and identify opportunities for future research.

Methods

PubMed, PsycINFO, Medline, and Scopus databases were searched using keywords and phrases. Retrieved abstracts (n=1525) were double screened, yielding 276 articles for full-text screening. Of these, 8 articles met inclusion criteria. Data were extracted to a standardized coding sheet, and a narrative synthesis was performed due to the heterogeneity of the studies.

Results

Four RCTs and 4 single-case reports were identified for inclusion, all of which aimed to reduce pain or anxiety. The scenarios targeted were burn pain, venipuncture, chemotherapy, preoperative anxiety, and palliative care. Three out of 4 RCTs found significant reductions in pain or anxiety outcomes measures when using virtual reality compared to standard care or other distraction techniques; however, only 1 study combined self-reported experiences of pain or anxiety with any physiological measures. Single-case reports relied primarily upon qualitative feedback, with patients reporting reduced pain or anxiety and a preference for virtual reality to no virtual reality.

Conclusions

Virtual reality can provide a safe and engaging way to reduce pain and anxiety in adolescents while in hospital, particularly when virtual reality software is highly immersive and specifically designed for therapeutic purposes. As VR becomes more accessible and affordable for use in hospitals, larger and more diverse studies that capitalize on adolescents’ interest in and aptitude for virtual reality, and on the full range of capabilities of this emerging technology, are needed to build on these promising results.

Trial Registration

PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42020198760; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020198760

Contemplating or Acting? Which Immersive Modes Should Be Favored in Virtual Reality During Physiotherapy for Breast Cancer Rehabilitation

Background

Even though virtual reality (VR) is more and more considered for its power of distraction in different medical contexts, the optimal conditions for its use still have to be determined in order to design interfaces adapted to therapeutic support in oncology.

Objective

The objective of this study was to examine the benefits of VR using two immersion methods (i.e., one participatory, one contemplative) and comparing them with each other in a population of women with breast cancer who have undergone breast surgery, during scar massage sessions.

Methods

In a physiotherapy center, each patient participated in four experimental conditions in a random order: two sessions used virtual immersion (i.e., one participatory and one contemplative), one session proposed musical listening and the fourth one was a standard session care. The impact of the level of patient involvement in the virtual world was apprehended through the evaluation of the feeling of presence; the estimation of elapsed time of the physiotherapy sessions and particular attention was paid to the evaluation of patient emotional state.

Results

Our study showed an increase in positive emotions (i.e., joy and happiness) and a decrease in anxiety regardless which support methods were offered. Participatory VR created a feeling of more intense spatial presence.

Conclusion

Our results highlight the importance of the context in which VR should be offered. The presence of the practitioner and his interactions with the patient can provide a context just as favorable in reducing anxiety as the emotional regulation tools used (VR, music). The use of technological tools should be favored when the practitioner is unavailable during the treatment phase or, even, in order to reduce the monotonous nature of repetitive therapeutic sessions.