Groninger Hunter, Violanti Diana, McPherson Mary Lynn, Hopkins Kevin, Carr Alaina L, Hurtado Maria, Mete Mihriye
Medstar Washington Hospital Center, 110 Irving Street NW, Room 2A68, 20010, Washington, DC, USA.
Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA.
Support Care Cancer. 2025 Jul 14;33(8):690. doi: 10.1007/s00520-025-09723-z.
Growing evidence supports the analgesic benefit of virtual reality (VR) for cancer-related pain. However, little is known about the effects of repeated use in the outpatient setting on chronic cancer pain severity or the ideal "dose" of VR interventions to mitigate cancer pain.
Single arm unblinded pilot dosing study. Participants were taught how to use and given a Meta Quest 2 VR headset with hand controllers, instructed to use daily × 10 min for 1 week, then twice-daily × 10 min for 1 week, then "as needed" (per participant choice) daily for 1 week. Outcomes were self-reported pain score (SRPS), PROMIS Pain Interference Short Form score, and satisfaction with overall pain management. The study recruited adults living with any solid cancer who reported baseline cancer-related pain ≥ 4/10 from a large urban cancer center in Washington, DC.
Thirty-three participants (mean age 55 years (SD = 11); 73% women; 91% African American) were included in the analysis. Linear mixed-effects models demonstrated significant time trends across the 3-week study period for improved SRPS (p = 0.04), pain interference scores (p = 0.001), and satisfaction with overall pain management (p < 0.001). Among participants who had been prescribed as needed opioids to manage their cancer pain, no change was observed in self-reported use of breakthrough opioids (p = 0.49).
In this pilot, daily use of VR-delivered distraction therapy improved chronic cancer pain compared to baseline. Twice-daily VR dosing may have helped more than once-daily dosing. Future, larger studies should seek to verify optimal dosing of nonpharmacological VR intervention for cancer pain.
NCT05442866 (June 28, 2022).
越来越多的证据支持虚拟现实（VR）对癌症相关疼痛的镇痛益处。然而，对于在门诊环境中重复使用VR对慢性癌症疼痛严重程度的影响，或者减轻癌症疼痛的理想VR干预“剂量”，人们知之甚少。
单臂非盲试验性剂量研究。研究人员向参与者教授如何使用Meta Quest 2 VR头戴式设备及其手持控制器，并给予他们，指导他们每天使用10分钟，持续1周，然后每天使用两次，每次10分钟，持续1周，然后根据参与者的选择“按需”每天使用1周。观察指标为自我报告疼痛评分（SRPS）、患者报告结果测量信息系统疼痛干扰简表评分以及对整体疼痛管理的满意度。该研究招募了来自华盛顿特区一家大型城市癌症中心、患有任何实体癌且报告基线癌症相关疼痛≥4/10的成年人。
33名参与者（平均年龄55岁（标准差=11）；73%为女性；91%为非裔美国人）纳入分析。线性混合效应模型显示，在为期3周的研究期间，SRPS（p = 0.04）、疼痛干扰评分（p = 0.001）以及对整体疼痛管理的满意度（p < 0.001）均呈现出显著的时间趋势改善。在那些被按需开具阿片类药物以控制癌症疼痛的参与者中，自我报告的突破性阿片类药物使用情况没有变化（p = 0.49）。
在这项试验中，与基线相比，每日使用VR分散注意力疗法可改善慢性癌症疼痛。每日两次使用VR可能比每日一次使用更有帮助。未来，规模更大的研究应致力于验证非药物VR干预对癌症疼痛的最佳剂量。
NCT05442866（2022年6月28日）。
