Víctor Turrado, MD, Julio Jiménez-Lillo, MD, Eduardo Villegas, MD, Romina Pena, MD, Federico Llanos, MD, Silvia Valverde, MD, Ana M Otero, MD, PhD, Raquel Bravo-Infante, MD, PhD, Francisco de Borja De Lacy, MD, José M Balibrea, MD, PhD, Antonio M Lacy, MD, PhD. Hospital Clínic Barcelona
Objective: to create an individualized virtual reality program to start the gradual exposition to the hospital and psychologically prepare each patient to a surgical intervention. Assess the efficacy of virtual reality in the decrease of preoperative anxiety compared to the standard exposition to the hospital environment.
Description of the technology and application: a virtual reality software with a recording of the hospital environment that mirrors the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona from the operating rooms to the surgical ward and postoperative recovery room. The recording is validated by a multidisciplinary team formed by nurses, surgeons, secretaries and experts in audiovisual systems. It represents the most important moments for the patient from the moment he is admitted into the hospital. Each step is explained by a member of the treating team. The conscience of the real world is created using a visual field of 110º using Vicon Motion System Ltd cameras. The exposure to the virtual reality software is of 16:34 minutes.
The hypothesis of this work is that Virtual Reality Software (VR) exposure decreases preoperative anxiety of the patient by introducing him to the reality of the hospital environment in a high-resolution application. Anxiety will be measured using the HAD and STAI questionnaires.
Preliminary results: to date of January 2019, 65 patients accepted to participate in the study and completed all the questionnaires. Of these, 27 (41.5%) were randomized into VR exposure. Women accounted for 33.8% of the participants, while men accounted for the 66.2% of them. Mean age was 67.80 ± 12.11 years; in the VR group mean age was 64.26 ± 13.23. In the VR group, women accounted for 44.4% of the participants.
On the VR group, mean basal HAD-D was 3.20 ± 2.63 and mean post-VR HAD-D was 2.40 ± 2.70 (p = 0.061). Mean basal HAD-A was 7.10 ± 4.27 and mean post-VR HAD-A was 6.45 ± 3.52 (p = 0.25). Mean basal STAI-A/E was 19.85 ± 9.88 and mean post-VR STAI-A/E was 17.50 ± 10.58 (p = 0.26). Mean basal STAI-A/R was 21.40 ± 8.99 and mean post-VR STAI-A/R was 18.35 ± 7.53 (p = 0.036). There were no differences between patients older than 65 years and younger than 65 years in terms of reduction of the anxiety and depression using STAI or HAD.
Conclusions: Virtual Reality seems to be a promising tool in reducing anxiety in patients with colorectal cancer if applied prior to the surgical intervention, regardless of their age. The application of this technology to other procedures or to reduce anxiety of patients before a scheduled admission into the hospital should be the next steps on the application of this technology.
Presented at the SAGES 2017 Annual Meeting in Houston, TX.
Abstract ID: 98874
Program Number: ET004
Presentation Session: Emerging Technology Session
Presentation Type: Podium