A randomised controlled trial to assess the feasibility of utilising virtual reality to facilitate analgesia during external cephalic version

External cephalic version ( ECV ) is associated with a moderate degree of pain. Virtual reality ( VR ) is a technology that has shown promise in offering procedural analgesia. We undertook a clinical pilot to assess the viability of VR to reduce pain during ECV. In an open randomised controlled tria...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2020-02, Vol.10 (1), p.3141-3141, Article 3141
Main Authors: Smith, Vinayak, Warty, Ritesh Rikain, Kashyap, Ravi, Neil, Peter, Adriaans, Carol, Nair, Amrish, Krishnan, Sathya, Da Silva Costa, Fabricio, Vollenhoven, Beverley, Wallace, Euan M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
692/1807/410
692/308/2779/777
Adult
Analgesia
Analgesia - methods
Anxiety
Computer applications
Computer Simulation
Feasibility Studies
Female
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
multidisciplinary
Pain
Pain Management - methods
Pain Measurement - methods
Pain perception
Pilot Projects
Pregnancy
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Version, Fetal - adverse effects
Version, Fetal - methods
Virtual Reality
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:External cephalic version ( ECV ) is associated with a moderate degree of pain. Virtual reality ( VR ) is a technology that has shown promise in offering procedural analgesia. We undertook a clinical pilot to assess the viability of VR to reduce pain during ECV. In an open randomised controlled trial ( RCT ) , we randomised 50 women to either VR or standard care each ( 25 per group ) . Women receiving VR were administered VR content ( Skylights ) via a headset. Pre- and post-procedural measures of pain, anxiety, device experience and vital signs were measured. There were no significant differences between groups ( VR/no VR ) in pain scores ( 60.68 vs 49.76; p = 0.2 ) , ECV success rates ( 80% vs 76%; p = 0.7 ) or anxiety levels. The women receiving VR had a significantly higher anticipation of pain pre-procedurally ( 70.0 vs 50.0; p = 0.03 ) . 20 ( 80% ) of the VR women indicated that they would use VR again and 22 ( 88% ) indicated they would recommend it to a friend having ECV. There were no significant differences between groups for side effects encountered or changes in vital signs. We have shown that using VR during ECV is feasible and appears safe. Our results inform the design of future RCTs.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-60040-3