- It is widely accepted that virtual reality (VR) has potential for use in healthcare.
- Despite the development of VR technology, scientific evidence of its effectiveness is still lacking.
- A new study now concludes that VR technology could be effective for patients with chronic illnesses, but more research is needed.
Could virtual reality become an effective treatment for patients suffering from chronic illnesses?
As futuristic technologies like immersive VR headsets have become more common, interest in their potential in health care settings. But so far, most trials involving virtual reality have been limited, both in terms of the size and quality of their data.
Today, a more complete picture is beginning to emerge. In an article published this week in the BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care,researchers undertook an in-depth review of studies involving the use of virtual reality to improve the psychological well-being of patients with chronic illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis. Researchers explored numerous research databases examining everything related to the topic between 1993 and 2023. A total of 31 studies met the review’s inclusion criteria.
After sifting through these studies, the researchers concluded that the future of VR treatments for patients with chronic illnesses looks promising, but there is still a long way to go.
“Our results suggest that VR interventions are acceptable treatments that have the potential to improve the physical and psychological consequences of physical illnesses…VR interventions are effective in reducing pain and distress, particularly in people with cancer” , wrote the study authors.
Dr. Peter Schmidt, a clinical assistant professor of anesthesiology at Stanford University who was not affiliated with the research, said: “The authors are to be congratulated for undertaking this comprehensive and thought-provoking review of the use of immersive virtual reality in chronic physical illnesses. Immersive virtual reality is a promising technology that merits further study as a minimal-risk intervention to reduce patient distress and increase patient satisfaction.
The gist of how virtual reality helps patients with chronic illnesses is surprisingly simple: It can serve as an immersive world that is both relaxing and distracting. Chronic diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis are considered
Researchers have most commonly deployed virtual reality as an intervention during procedures like these. So rather than sitting in your doctor’s office undergoing chemotherapy, you explore the Titanic, walk on a tropical beach, or meander through a redwood forest. Sometimes the virtual reality experience can also be associated with specific instructions, such as using mindfulness and relaxation techniques.
Although results varied across the 31 studies reviewed, outcomes of virtual reality interventions included reduced anxiety and stress and improved pain levels.
“Based on our current knowledge, virtual reality seems best suited for use during medical interventions, especially during infusions,” Schmidt said. “No safety concerns were reported in any of the studies reviewed, so the potential benefit outweighs the risks and VR could certainly serve as a complement to traditional psychological and pharmacological interventions.”
The fact that VR is a non-pharmacological approach to pain management and mental health is important. For chronic pain patients who are already taking a cocktail of medications, both for treatment and pain management, a treatment that doesn’t add medications to the mix is appealing, other studies write.
“Our research shows that virtual reality offers a potential alternative to pharmaceutical interventions for managing pain and anxiety related to medical conditions.” Professor Martin DempsterSchool of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, the lead author of the research, told Healthline.
“We are not suggesting that virtual reality should completely replace pharmaceuticals, but that it could perhaps reduce the need for these drugs, thereby avoiding problems resulting from interactions between different drugs,” he said.
However, there are still many obstacles to VR technology. could become widespread in health establishments. Schmidt and the study authors agree that while the results of virtual reality interventions appear promising, studies conducted thus far have shown significant variations in design, outcomes, and even technology. Most studies included in the review were feasibility studies or pilot studies intended to demonstrate proof of concept rather than developing large data sets.
For starters, VR technology – both hardware and software – varies widely. The hardware, that is, the physical systems put in place to experience the virtual world, which include protective glasses, audio devices and control systems, are manufactured by different companies, including Sony and Facebook, without no sort of standardization in terms of quality. and the level of immersion.
The next level is software, the actual virtual reality experience. Studies have reported the use of many different types of VR programs, again without any standards for experience or quality. Although variance can help paint a general picture of VR interventions, it is this type of detail that makes existing VR studies difficult to replicate and, therefore, difficult to verify and leverage.
“We need more high-quality studies testing the effectiveness of virtual reality for relieving pain and anxiety so we can understand how effective it is compared to other treatment options,” Dempster said.
Schmidt agrees that VR interventions for chronic illnesses are an avenue worth exploring, but that better studies are needed.
“I would like to see a large, blinded, sham-controlled study on the ability of immersive VR to reduce cancer pain/anxiety over a significant period of time. This would allow comparisons with our current standards of care for pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions,” he said.
An extensive review of medical literature conducted between 1993 and 2023 found that virtual reality treatments could help improve anxiety and pain in people with chronic illnesses like cancer or multiple sclerosis.
Until now, studies have generally been small and offered limited but promising data.
Experts agree that VR treatments have potential but more rigorous study is needed.
