Virtual reality improves pain threshold and recall in healthy adults: A randomized, crossover study

IF 5 2区医学 Q1 ANESTHESIOLOGY

Journal of Clinical Anesthesia Pub Date : 2025-03-21 DOI:10.1016/j.jclinane.2025.111816

Samuel T. Rodriguez MD , Ricardo T. Jimenez BA , Ellen Y. Wang MD , Michelle Zuniga-Hernandez BS , Janet Titzler BS , Christian Jackson BS , Man Yee Suen MMedSci , Craig Yamaguchi BS , Brian Ko , Jiang-Ti Kong MD , Thomas J. Caruso MD, PhD

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Study objective

Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology increasingly used to ameliorate acute and chronic pain although controlled, quantifiable data are limited. The purpose of this study is to evaluate VR's effect on heat pain threshold (HPT), pressure pain threshold (PPT), immediate pain and anxiety, and recalled pain and anxiety.

Design

Prospective, randomized, crossover clinical trial.

Setting

The Stanford Chariot Program conducted this study at the Stanford School of Medicine Health System.

Patients

Healthy participants meeting inclusion criteria were recruited by solicitation from the Stanford School of Medicine Health System.

Interventions

Participants were randomized by hand dominance and condition sequence and underwent standardized pain threshold tests with a thermode or an algometer during VR and control conditions.

Measurements

Pain threshold, numeric pain scores, and anxiety scores were immediately recorded. Recalled pain and anxiety scores were recorded 24 h later.

Main results

A total of 80 participants were included, 40 who underwent HPT testing and 40 who underwent PPT testing. VR increased pain thresholds for both HPT (P = 0.002) and PPT (P = 0.044). The use of VR resulted in no difference in initial pain scores for HPT (P = 0.432) or PPT (P = 0.24). There was no difference in recalled pain when using VR for HPT (P = 0.851) although there was for PPT (P = 0.003). Initial and recalled anxiety scores for HPT (P = 0.006, P = 0.018, respectively) and PPT (P = 0.014, P = 0.002, respectively) were all reduced when using VR.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that VR increased pain thresholds while modulating initial and recalled experiences with anxiety, which has implications for enhancing patient experiences during medical interventions and long-term health outcomes by optimizing memories during stressful events.

Clinical trial registration: NCT05836649, 4/19/23.

IRB registration: Stanford IRB #69330.

查看原文本刊更多论文

虚拟现实技术可提高健康成年人的疼痛阈值和回忆能力：一项随机交叉研究。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Clinical Anesthesia 医学-麻醉学

CiteScore

7.40

自引率

4.50%

发文量

346

审稿时长

23 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Clinical Anesthesia (JCA) addresses all aspects of anesthesia practice, including anesthetic administration, pharmacokinetics, preoperative and postoperative considerations, coexisting disease and other complicating factors, cost issues, and similar concerns anesthesiologists contend with daily. Exceptionally high standards of presentation and accuracy are maintained. The core of the journal is original contributions on subjects relevant to clinical practice, and rigorously peer-reviewed. Highly respected international experts have joined together to form the Editorial Board, sharing their years of experience and clinical expertise. Specialized section editors cover the various subspecialties within the field. To keep your practical clinical skills current, the journal bridges the gap between the laboratory and the clinical practice of anesthesiology and critical care to clarify how new insights can improve daily practice.