NCT03685422

Preoperative Virtual Reality to Reduce Pain on Gynaecologic Patients Undergoing Surgery

Active, enrolled NA Last updated 9 October 2024

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Virtual Reality in Pain, Postoperative in 220 participants. Participants enrolled and being followed up; not accepting new ones.

Timeline

26 March 2019

Primary endpoint
31 December 2025

31 August 2026

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	KK Women's and Children's Hospital
Phase	NA
Status	Active, enrolled
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	none
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	220
Start date	26 March 2019
Primary completion	31 December 2025
Estimated completion	31 August 2026
Sites	1 location across Singapore

Drugs / interventions tested

• Virtual Reality

Conditions studied

• Pain, Postoperative — all drugs for Pain, Postoperative →
• Anxiety — all drugs for Anxiety →

Sponsor

KK Women's and Children's Hospital

Who can join

Adults 21 to 70, female only, with Pain, Postoperative or Anxiety. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

In the perioperative setting, distraction therapies have been used as a technique to reduce anxiety and pain in the perioperative period. Measures employed in the local restructured hospitals include television, magazines, and newspapers. Tablet-based activity, music and video distraction therapy have also been shown to be useful to reduce preoperative anxiety. The investigators propose a prospective study to implement and evaluate the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in decreasing in anxiety and pain undergoing gynaecological surgery.

In the first phase of study, VR will be administered in 110 female adults undergoing day surgery, same-day-admission or in-patient gynecologic surgery in KKH. The VR will be administered using a Samsung Gear VR3 headset fitted with a smartphone. VR images and sound with calming effect will be delivered to the patients for a short duration of up to 25 minutes. This low-intensity activity offers soothing experience to distract the patients from any pain and anxiety. Second phase of study will randomize 110 female adults undergoing gynecologic surgery. Pain and psychological assessment will be conducted after recruitment, and the group assigned to VR group will navigate the VR environment before and after surgery.

Publications & conference data

3 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. The use of pre-operative virtual reality to reduce anxiety in women undergoing gynecological surgeries: a prospective cohort study.
   Chan JJI, Yeam CT, Kee HM, Tan CW, et al · · 2020 · cited 31× · PMID 33036555 · DOI 10.1186/s12871-020-01177-6
2. The use of virtual reality to improve quality of recovery in women undergoing gynecological surgeries: a randomized controlled trial.
   Chan JJI, Sultana R, Ho YTR, Al Malki MHS, et al · · 2026 · PMID 41787026 · DOI 10.1038/s41598-026-41984-4
3. The use of pre-operative Virtual Reality to reduce anxiety in women undergoing gynecological surgeries: a prospective cohort study
   Chan JJI, Yeam CT, Kee HM, Tan CW, et al · · 2020 · DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-20956/v4