A portable virtual reality system as an alternative medical treatment to reduce pain-related anxiety in ambulatory surgical operations : a randomized controlled study

Pain-related anxiety is a common problem for patients who undergo surgical operations. Since drug treatments alone have frequently proved to be inadequate to reduce stress and anxiety in surgical contexts, there is an increasing interest in non invasive complementary and alternative medical therapies (CAM) that reduce pain and tension during pre and post operative phases. Virtual reality can be considered an innovative form of CAM therapy having gained recognition as a means of attenuating pain during medical procedures. The aim of this study is to test the efficacy of a small, portable and immersive virtual reality system to reduce anxiety in a sample of patients who underwent ambulatory surgical operations. Forty-seven patients were randomly divided in three groups: the virtual reality group (VR); the Music group (MU); and the control group (CTR). Psychological and physiological measures were recorded immediately before, after 45 minutes, and after 90 minutes of operation. The results demonstrated that virtual reality is faster than music alone in reducing the patients’ perceived anxiety, suggesting that a very portable and inexpensive virtual reality system can be safe and effective in ameliorating anxiety experienced in ambulatory surgical contexts