Efficacy of a virtual reality-based basic and clinical fused curriculum for clinical education on the lumbar intervertebral disc

Effectiveness of virtual reality in preventing falls in non-disabled older adults: A meta-analysis and systematic review

OBJECTIVE

This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality interventions in preventing falls among non-disabled older adults.

METHODS

We conducted a librarian-designed database search. Two researchers independently screened eligible studies. The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions was used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies.

RESULTS

Virtual reality interventions can effectively improve gait and dynamic and static balance function, enhance lower limb muscle strength, and reduce the risk of falls in the non-disabled elderly. However, the effect of virtual reality on reducing the fear of falling remains controversial.

CONCLUSION

Virtual reality interventions can effectively prevent falls in nondisabled elderly individuals. Higher quality, larger sample size, and long-term follow-up studies are needed to further verify the long-term effectiveness of virtual reality training in preventing falls in non-disabled elderly individuals.

Effectiveness of virtual reality in reducing preoperative anxiety in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM

To evaluate the impact of a virtual reality (VR) intervention on adult patients' preoperative anxiety, heart rate, respiration rate and blood pressure.

DESIGN

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

DATA SOURCES

A librarian-designed search of the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL, CBM, CNKI and Wanfang databases was conducted to identify research studies in English or Chinese on RCTs from their inception to 31 May 2022. Detailed search strategies and the checklist are provieded in Supplementary files S1 and S2.

REVIEW METHODS

Two researchers independently screened eligible studies. The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions was used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies. A fixed- or random-effects meta-analysis model was used to determine the pooled mean difference based on the results of the heterogeneity test.

RESULTS

This study included 11 articles with a total of 892 participants. VR distraction comprised five studies, and VR exposure consisted of six studies. The results indicated that VR could reduce preoperative anxiety in adult patients and VR exposure seems to be more effective. The results also indicated that VR intervention can effectively reduce patients' heart rate and blood pressure compared to traditional intervention methods, but had no significant effect on respiration rate.

CONCLUSION

VR technology could relieve preoperative anxiety in adult patients through distraction or exposure. More well-designed RCTs containing a wider range of surgical types are needed to verify our findings before we can make strong recommendations.

IMPACT

Our systematic review and meta-analysis show a positive effect of VR distraction and exposure interventions in reducing preoperative anxiety in adult patients. We suggest incorporating VR into preoperative procedures as an auxiliary way to reduce negative emotions in eligible patients.

NO PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Our paper is a systematic review and meta-analysis and such details do not apply to our work.

Resident Training in Spine Surgery: A Systematic Review of Simulation-Based Educational Models

OBJECTIVE

With the increasing prevalence of spine surgery, ensuring effective resident training is becoming of increasing importance. Training safe, competent surgeons relies heavily on effective teaching of surgical indications and adequate practice to achieve a minimum level of technical proficiency before independent practice. American Council of Graduate Medical Education work-hour restrictions have complicated the latter, forcing programs to identify novel methods of surgical resident training. Simulation-based training is one such method that can be used to complement traditional training. The present review aims to evaluate the educational success of simulation-based models in the spine surgical training of residents.

METHODS

Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, the PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were systematically screened for English full-text studies examining simulation-based spine training curricula. Studies were categorized based on simulation model class, including animal-cadaveric, human-cadaveric, physical/3-dimensional, and computer-based/virtual reality. Outcomes studied included participant feedback regarding the simulator and competency metrics used to evaluate participant performance.

RESULTS

Seventy-two studies were identified. Simulators displayed high face validity and were useful for spine surgery training. Objective measures used to evaluate procedural performance included implant placement evaluation, procedural time, and technical skill assessment, with numerous simulators demonstrating a learning effect.

CONCLUSIONS

While simulation-based educational models are one potential means of training residents to perform spine surgery, traditional in-person operating room training remains pivotal. To establish the efficacy of simulators, future research should focus on improving study quality by leveraging longitudinal study designs and correlating simulation-based training with clinical outcome measures.

Virtual Reality in Neurosurgery: Beyond Neurosurgical Planning

Background: While several publications have focused on the intuitive role of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in neurosurgical planning, the aim of this review was to explore other avenues, where these technologies have significant utility and applicability. Methods: This review was conducted by searching PubMed, PubMed Central, Google Scholar, the Scopus database, the Web of Science Core Collection database, and the SciELO citation index, from 1989–2021. An example of a search strategy used in PubMed Central is: “Virtual reality” [All Fields] AND (“neurosurgical procedures” [MeSH Terms] OR (“neurosurgical” [All Fields] AND “procedures” [All Fields]) OR “neurosurgical procedures” [All Fields] OR “neurosurgery” [All Fields] OR “neurosurgery” [MeSH Terms]). Using this search strategy, we identified 487 (PubMed), 1097 (PubMed Central), and 275 citations (Web of Science Core Collection database). Results: Articles were found and reviewed showing numerous applications of VR/AR in neurosurgery. These applications included their utility as a supplement and augment for neuronavigation in the fields of diagnosis for complex vascular interventions, spine deformity correction, resident training, procedural practice, pain management, and rehabilitation of neurosurgical patients. These technologies have also shown promise in other area of neurosurgery, such as consent taking, training of ancillary personnel, and improving patient comfort during procedures, as well as a tool for training neurosurgeons in other advancements in the field, such as robotic neurosurgery. Conclusions: We present the first review of the immense possibilities of VR in neurosurgery, beyond merely planning for surgical procedures. The importance of VR and AR, especially in “social distancing” in neurosurgery training, for economically disadvantaged sections, for prevention of medicolegal claims and in pain management and rehabilitation, is promising and warrants further research.