NCT06097520

Virtual Reality in Postoperative Acute Pain Management in Thoracic Surgery

Virtual Reality in Postoperative Acute Pain Management in Thoracic Surgery (VRThx)

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 39 (actual)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This randomized controlled study is to investigate the effectiveness of VR headsets in reducing postoperative pain intensity among patients after having undergone thoracic surgical procedures.

Detailed description

Thoracic surgical procedures can often result in postoperative pain. Traditional methods of pain management, such as medication, have limitations in terms of their efficacy and potential side effects. Therefore, there is a need for alternative approaches that can effectively alleviate postoperative pain while minimizing medication use. Virtual reality (VR) technology has gained attention as a potential non-pharmacological intervention for pain management. There is limited research specifically focusing on the use of VR in the context of thoracic surgery. This study is to investigate the effectiveness of VR headsets in reducing postoperative pain intensity among patients after having undergone thoracic surgical procedures. To enhance the objectivity of the investigation, objective parameters alongside subjective assessments of pain will be incorporated. While self-reported measures are valuable, they can be subjective and influenced by individual perception. Therefore, the subjective assessments will be complemented by objective measurements to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the pain experience and its modulation through the VR intervention.

Conditions

• Postoperative Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	VR Intervention	For the VR Intervention a VR head-mounted display, the Pico G2 4K, will be used. This intervention involves wearing VR glasses and experiencing non-interactive videos with sound through a headset. The footage consists of different immersive 360-degree scenarios from natural environments (e.g., forest), while corresponding sounds, meditation or classical music harmoniously tuned to these scenarios and are played through noise-cancelling headphones.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-11-29
• Primary completion: 2025-02-24
• Completion: 2025-02-24
• First posted: 2023-10-24
• Last updated: 2025-03-14

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Switzerland