Saliba Thomas, Boitsios Grammatina, Preziosi Marco, Negro Giulia, De Leucio Alessandro, Simoni Paolo
Hôpital Universitaire des Enfants Reine Fabiola, Av. Jean Joseph Crocq 15, 1020, Brussels, Belgium.
J Clin Monit Comput. 2025 Feb;39(1):183-192. doi: 10.1007/s10877-024-01188-5. Epub 2024 Jul 1.
Up to 75% of paediatric patients experience anxiety and distress before undergoing new medical procedures. Virtual reality is an interesting avenue for alleviating the stress and fear of paediatric patients due to its ability to completely immerse the child in the virtual world and thus expose them to the sights and sounds of an MRI before undergoing the exam. We aimed to explore the impact of virtual reality exposure on reducing fear and anxiety in paediatric patients scheduled to undergo an MRI. We hypothesised that patient who had undergone VR exposure before the MRI would experience lower levels of fear and anxiety and subsequently have a higher MRI success rate. We conducted a prospective randomized control trial in a tertiary paediatric hospital over three weeks. Inclusion criteria comprised children aged 4 to 14 undergoing MRI without medical contraindications for VR use. Thirty patients (16 in VR, 14 in control) were included in the study. The VR room, created in-house by a researcher, that the VR group experienced, simulated MRI room with typical sounds for up to 5 min before their actual MRI. Fear and anxiety were measured using the FACES scale before and after MRI for the control group as well as after VR exposure for the VR group. The VR group exhibited a significant reduction in anxiety post-VR exposure regarding the upcoming MRI (p = 0.009). There was no significant difference with regards to fear and anxiety between the VR and control groups before or after the MRI exam. There was no significant difference between the MRI exam success rates. VR exposure effectively reduces pre-MRI anxiety in paediatric patients who are about to undergo the exam, this is important as it alleviates the psychological burden on the child. This research is in line with previous findings, showing the validity of VR as a method of reducing pre-procedural paediatric anxiety and suggesting that complex VR experiences may not be necessary to have a significant impact. There is, however, a need for further investigation in this field using larger and MRI-naïve groups of patients.
高达75%的儿科患者在接受新的医疗程序前会经历焦虑和痛苦。虚拟现实是缓解儿科患者压力和恐惧的一个有趣途径，因为它能够让孩子完全沉浸在虚拟世界中，从而在接受磁共振成像（MRI）检查前让他们接触到MRI的景象和声音。我们旨在探讨虚拟现实暴露对降低计划接受MRI检查的儿科患者恐惧和焦虑的影响。我们假设在MRI检查前接受虚拟现实暴露的患者会经历较低水平的恐惧和焦虑，随后MRI检查成功率会更高。我们在一家三级儿科医院进行了为期三周的前瞻性随机对照试验。纳入标准包括年龄在4至14岁、接受MRI检查且无使用虚拟现实的医学禁忌证的儿童。30名患者（16名在虚拟现实组，14名在对照组）被纳入研究。虚拟现实组体验的由一名研究人员在医院内部创建的虚拟现实房间，在他们实际进行MRI检查前模拟MRI房间并播放典型声音长达5分钟。对照组在MRI检查前后以及虚拟现实组在虚拟现实暴露后使用面部表情量表测量恐惧和焦虑。虚拟现实组在虚拟现实暴露后对即将到来的MRI检查的焦虑显著降低（p = 0.009）。在MRI检查前或检查后，虚拟现实组和对照组在恐惧和焦虑方面没有显著差异。MRI检查成功率之间也没有显著差异。虚拟现实暴露有效地降低了即将接受检查的儿科患者MRI检查前的焦虑，这很重要，因为它减轻了孩子的心理负担。这项研究与之前的研究结果一致，表明虚拟现实作为一种减轻儿科患者术前焦虑的方法是有效的，并且表明可能不需要复杂的虚拟现实体验就能产生显著影响。然而，需要在这个领域使用更大规模且从未接受过MRI检查的患者群体进行进一步研究。
