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Virtual Reality (VR) Could Be a Good Alternative to Relaxing or Pain-relieving Medication

Virtual Reality for Elderly Patients in Anesthesia and Surgical Care

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06649383
Enrollment
90
Registered
2024-10-18
Start date
2024-12-16
Completion date
2029-06-15
Last updated
2025-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Distraction, Elderly (people Aged 65 or More), Virtual Reality

Keywords

virtual reality, distraction

Brief summary

We want to investigate whether Virtual Reality (VR) could be a good alternative to the relaxing or pain-relieving medications that are often used to alleviate anxiety when patients undergo surgery under local anesthesia.

Detailed description

This study is a randomized controlled trial based on both quantitative and qualitative methods. Inclusion criteria are elderly patients aged ≥65 years with an estimated surgery time of a maximum of 90 minutes, who undergo surgery/treatment under local anesthesia and sedation. Randomization is to either standard sedation or sedation/VR. Randomization is carried out using mixed, sealed envelopes. The studies will be conducted at the following locations: Hallands Hospital, Kungsbacka: Open inguinal hernia surgery with implant, anesthesia type is infiltration anesthesia. Sahlgrenska Hospital: Intervention, cannulation of the groin and vascular surgery performed via catheters/guides on blood vessels, liver, pancreas, and abdominal organs, with anesthesia type infiltration. Alingsås Hospital: Surgery on the hand, arm, lower extremity, urology, with anesthesia type block and infiltration. Data collection will include baseline preoperative stress levels measured with The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) and pain assessment using a numerical rating scale (NRS) from 0-11. We also plan to use an objective marker for measuring anxiety-induced stress perioperatively, such as heart rate variability or skin conductance measurement. Postoperative data will include STAI-S, NRS, intraoperative sedative medication (type and dosage in mg/kg), time to urination, time to oral nutrition, discharge time, and time spent in the postoperative ward. The patient will assess their well-being with the QoR 15 and NRS during the first five days postoperatively. The patient will be contacted to schedule a follow-up individual interview with semi-structured questions via Zoom two weeks after the surgery. The primary outcome effect of VR glasses on mg/kg of propofol used intraoperatively or another sedative drug and/or the amount of local anesthetic used in mg. The secondary outcome effect of VR glasses on anxiety-induced stress perioperatively, where data collection will be conducted using EEG spectral edge frequency and The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S).

Interventions

DEVICEVirtual reality

Participant will try virtual reality glasses with tailormade software films to see if it's possible to use them as distraction during awake surgery. We will measure doses of propofol given, level of anxiety, experience of the patient and surgeons satisfaction.

Sponsors

Sahlgrenska University Hospital
CollaboratorOTHER
Pether Jildenstal
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

RCT

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
65 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* over 65 years, planed surgery in local anesthesia/regional anesthesia

Exclusion criteria

* dementia, unable to cooperate, cognitive impairment

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
propofol mg/kgduring the surgery (90 minutes max)dose of propofol given during surgery to the participant

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Surgeons satisfactionDirectly after surgery is finishedsurgeons satisfaction, measured with NASA task load index (tlx). Higher score, worse outcome.
Stress/anxietyduring the surgery (90 minutes max)Stress or anxiety felt during surgery by participant, measured with State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) . Higher score worse outcome.
Nurse anesthetists experience, (questionnaire).Directly after surgery is finishedNurse anesthetists experience will be measured with a questionnaire egarding how well the monitoring of the patient could be carried out and the degree to which the patient was perceived as calm. The higher score, the better.
Level of painDirectly after surgery is finishedPatients level of pain after surgery, measured with Numeric rating scale (NRS). The higher scores mean worse outcome.

Countries

Sweden

Contacts

Primary ContactPether Jildenstål, Docent
pether.jildenstal@vgregion.se+46760266658

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026