TY - JOUR
T1 - Virtual Reality for Pain Management in Cancer
T2 - A Comprehensive Review
AU - Pittara, Melpo
AU - Matsangidou, Maria
AU - Stylianides, Kyriakos
AU - Petkov, Nicolai
AU - Pattichis, Costantinos S.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant 739578, and in part by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Directorate-General for European Programmes, Coordination, and Development.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 IEEE.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Virtual Reality is a computer-simulated 3-Dimensional technology in which the user interacts via different senses: visual, auditory, tactile, and/or olfactory. In the past decades, it has been argued that Virtual Reality as a technique could be applied in the clinical environment to successfully manage pain. This article provides a systematic review of research on Virtual Reality and pain management for patients who are suffering from cancer. More specifically, this article focuses on all types of Virtual Reality technologies (Non-Immersive, Semi-Immersive, Fully-Immersive) which has been developed and released to manage the pain which evokes from the treatment of cancer. An exhaustive search identified 23 relevant studies from 2010 to 2020. Overall, the identified studies indicated that Virtual Reality can improve the experience of pain for patients who are suffering from cancer. It was also found that, if Virtual Reality is appropriately designed, the pain which is arising from cancer treatments can be reduced. Even though some positive outcomes have been reported, overall, the results are inconclusive and studies that examine specifically the treatment of pain in cancer patients are limited. Further research needs to be conducted, to articulate clearly, under what circumstances Virtual Reality is an effective tool for cancer patients, and under what factors Virtual Reality can be the solution to the pain patients are experiencing.
AB - Virtual Reality is a computer-simulated 3-Dimensional technology in which the user interacts via different senses: visual, auditory, tactile, and/or olfactory. In the past decades, it has been argued that Virtual Reality as a technique could be applied in the clinical environment to successfully manage pain. This article provides a systematic review of research on Virtual Reality and pain management for patients who are suffering from cancer. More specifically, this article focuses on all types of Virtual Reality technologies (Non-Immersive, Semi-Immersive, Fully-Immersive) which has been developed and released to manage the pain which evokes from the treatment of cancer. An exhaustive search identified 23 relevant studies from 2010 to 2020. Overall, the identified studies indicated that Virtual Reality can improve the experience of pain for patients who are suffering from cancer. It was also found that, if Virtual Reality is appropriately designed, the pain which is arising from cancer treatments can be reduced. Even though some positive outcomes have been reported, overall, the results are inconclusive and studies that examine specifically the treatment of pain in cancer patients are limited. Further research needs to be conducted, to articulate clearly, under what circumstances Virtual Reality is an effective tool for cancer patients, and under what factors Virtual Reality can be the solution to the pain patients are experiencing.
KW - cancer
KW - interactive devices
KW - pain
KW - Virtual reality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097950479&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3044233
DO - 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3044233
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85097950479
SN - 2169-3536
VL - 8
SP - 225475
EP - 225489
JO - IEEE Access
JF - IEEE Access
M1 - 9291419
ER -