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Recent Applications of Virtual Reality for the Management of Pain in Burn and Pediatric Patients

  • Alternative Treatments for Pain Medicine (M Jones, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Pain and Headache Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Virtual reality, via integration of immersive visual and auditory modalities, offers an innovative approach to pain management. The purpose of this review is to investigate the clinical application of virutal reality as an adjunct analgesic to standard of care, particularly in pediatric and burn patients.

Recent Findings

Although relatively new, virtual reality has been successfully implemented in a wide range of clinical scenarios for educational, diagnostic, and therapeutic purposes. Most recent literature supports the use of this adjunct analgesic in reducing pain intensity for pediatric and burn patients undergoing acute, painful procedures.

Summary

This summative review demonstrates the efficacy of virtual reality in altering pain perception by decreasing pain and increasing functionality among pediatric and burn patients. However, large, multi-center randomized controlled trials are still warranted to generalize these findings to more diverse patient demographics and medical scenarios.

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Abbreviations

VR:

Virtual reality

SOC:

Standard of care

HMD:

Head mounted display

ICU:

Intensive care unit

IV:

Intravenous

RCT:

Randomized control trial

VAS:

Visual analog scale

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Care, and Pain Medicine, New York University Langone Health, 550 1st Avenue, 5th floor, New York City, NY, 10016, USA

    Samuel P. Ang, Michael Montuori, Yuriy Trimba, Nicole Maldari, Divya Patel & Qian Cece Chen

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  1. Samuel P. Ang
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  2. Michael Montuori
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  4. Nicole Maldari
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  6. Qian Cece Chen
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Contributions

Samuel P. Ang: This author aided in manuscript preparation and conceived the review study.

Michael Montuori: This author aided in manuscript preparation.

Yuriy Trimba: This author aided in manuscript preparation.

Nicole Maldari: This author aided in manuscript preparation.

Divya Patel: This author aided in manuscript preparation.

Qian Cece Chen: This author aided in manuscript preparation and conceived the review study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samuel P. Ang.

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Ang, S.P., Montuori, M., Trimba, Y. et al. Recent Applications of Virtual Reality for the Management of Pain in Burn and Pediatric Patients. Curr Pain Headache Rep 25, 4 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-020-00917-0

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