Some researchers announced at the annual conference of the European Society of Urology, the results of a new study they conducted, where the study showed that making a person live in a distinctive virtual environment may relieve the pain caused by surgical operations or any other uncomfortable medical procedures, without the use of anesthetics.
The study showed that result when virtual reality headsets were placed on the patient before the painful cystoscopy procedure, after using the patient’s behavioral and physiological data for the study.
The researchers conducted a study in order to reduce the use of anesthesia during surgeries that require continuous anesthesia, and at the same time reduce the pain associated with the operation, such as cystoscopy, as anesthesia may cause an increase in the risk of complications after the operation.
The study included placing patients who were held horizontally while undergoing cystoscopy, inside virtual reality, through the audio-visual effect, as this study provides the participants with a unique and unique experience, and less painful.
103 patients, who were included in the list of rigid cystoscopy with local intraurethral anesthesia, participated in the study conducted at the Medical University of Wrocław in Poland, with an average age of 66 years, whose data were used to conduct the study.
The patients were divided into two parts during the study, namely:
The first section: This section performed the endoscopic operation of the bladder in the usual way using anesthesia.
Section Two: This section performed a cystoscopy using virtual reality, by putting on virtual reality glasses and headphones, and watching videos of Skógafoss Waterfall in Iceland.
The researchers evaluated several aspects of the study, including:
Evaluate the level of fear, anxiety, and depression before the operation.
Measure your blood pressure during the procedure.
Measurement of oxygen saturation during the procedure.
Measure your heart rate during the procedure.
Measure the degree of pain through the use of a measurement score called the FLACC, by observing the following:
the face.
legs.
crying.
balance.
Assessment of the degree of pain and nausea after the procedure.
Study Results
The study showed that the degree of pain of the participants in the second section, who performed the procedure with the use of virtual reality, was lower than that of the comparison group.
Although the degree of pain was reduced, the use of virtual reality glasses and headphones led to feelings of nausea and dizziness, but the patients confirmed that this was not a difficult matter that required stopping the operation.
All participants had an increase in blood pressure and heart rate, but those who used virtual reality did not have a significant rise.
