Virtual reality and its use in post-operative pain following laparoscopy: a feasibility study

Abstract

Pain following laparoscopic surgery remains a neglected healthcare issue. Virtual reality-mediated therapy’s (VRT) analgesic potential could address this. However, its effect in this setting remains unexplored. We aimed to establish the feasibility and safety of VRT as an adjunct analgesic following gynaecological laparoscopy and explore differences between active distraction and passive meditation content. 35 women were enrolled into an open crossover pilot and randomised to either intervention group 1 (active then passive content) or intervention group 2 (passive then active content) following surgery. VRT was administered in two 10-min segments with a 10-min washout period in between. Pain scores, opioid requirements and side effects were recorded before and after each segment whilst questionnaires evaluated acceptability. We observed a significant reduction in pain over time for the entire study population (F = 8.63, p < 0.0005) but no differences between intervention groups, in contrast to many studies demonstrating an increase in pain during this time. During segment one, intervention group 1 (n = 18) were administered significantly less opioid than intervention group 2 (n = 17) [0.0 (0.0–7.5) vs. 3.0(0.0–10.0), p = 0.04]. Intervention group 1 rated the VRT experience significantly higher than intervention group 2 (7.97 vs. 6.62. p = 0.017). 97.1% (n = 34) would recommend VRT to a friend and use it as the standard-of-care in future procedures. These results demonstrate that post-operative VRT is feasible and safe. However, adequately powered studies are needed to appropriately determine its efficacy.

Self-Administered Virtual Reality for Postsurgical Pain Management: A Qualitative Study of Hospital Patients’ Reported Experiences

“…We allowed patients to use VR when needed, according to their own preferences, and on three consecutive days. This contrasts with previous studies that standardized VR usage by providing limited content in a single VR session or a limited number of sessions, supervised by a researcher [17,19,20]. The approach to only advise patients and let them freely choose VR usage allowed us to obtain insights into the patient-initiated use of VR, including the most suitable content and VR prescription from the patient perspective, which is a knowledge gap in clinical VR [5].…”

Effectiveness and User Perception of an In-Vehicle Voice Warning for Hypoglycemia: Development and Feasibility Trial

“…Thus, although we included a total sample size of 48 individuals, each feasibility study provides insight into the changes required by the users, and we provide the scientific community with an opening to the design of in-vehicle voice assistant-based health-related warning. Furthermore, previous studies on digital health systems used a similar sample size [65][66][67]. Thus, we believe that although the sample size does not allow drawing conclusions on the interaction of drivers with T1DM with in-vehicle hypoglycemia warnings, it still reports pioneer research.…”

Paediatric pain management: from regional to virtual

“…Virtual reality interactivity has been found to have analgesic effects in the immersive environment, suggesting a potential for its use as a nonpharmacological method of pain management [32]. The advantages of virtual reality for pain management include a minimal side effect profile, low medical risk, high feasibility [33], customizable patient experiences and rapidly evolving technology that is likely to drastically improve user interface and patient experience in the coming years.…”