CHRONIC PAIN IS A REALITY for many people with cancer. Research shows more than half of people with early-stage cancer and about 75% with advanced cancer live with chronic pain, often caused by the cancer itself and treatment side effects.
A study published July 15, 2024, in Cancer suggests using virtual reality (VR) technology may help manage chronic cancer pain. Researchers randomly assigned 128 hospitalized cancer patients experiencing moderate-to-severe pain to one of two interventions. One group donned headsets for 10 minutes of VR that gave participants the sense that they were in a natural landscape, while a second group did a 10-minute guided meditation with nature images on a tablet. Both groups experienced improvements in pain scores, but those who completed VR therapy reported a 20% reduction in pain after one session, compared with 12% for those who completed tablet meditation.
And the pain relief lasted. “The patients that had been randomized to the virtual reality arm still had sustained lower pain scores 24 hours later compared to the control arm,” says Hunter Groninger, a palliative care physician and researcher at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., who led the study. It’s not clear exactly how VR helps relieve pain, but Groninger says it provides a distraction and may alter the transmission of pain signals.
When considering purchasing a virtual reality headset for pain relief at home, people should evaluate the equipment’s cost, wearability and program library. Brennan Spiegel, a gastroenterologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, recommends patients get a headset that is portable and comes with a large software library offering a variety of experiences.
Scientists are also combining VR with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to address pain, says Brennan Spiegel, a gastroenterologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who specializes in treating patients using immersive technology such as VR. CBT is a form of psychotherapy that alleviates pain by teaching people to recognize and alter negative thought patterns. It traditionally involves working with a therapist, but VR could provide that help instead. Spiegel is leading a clinical trial that will investigate if people with gastrointestinal cancers report less pain after using VR to learn CBT skills.
Virtual reality technology is becoming increasingly user-friendly.
Virtual reality (VR) is still new to many people, yet 90% of cancer patients who used VR in a recent study said they were satisfied with the treatment and wanted to use it again, according to Hunter Groninger, a palliative care physician at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. He says the technology is becoming simpler to use and increasingly user-friendly for people of all ages.
“As this technology gets better and more accessible and more affordable, it is also becoming easier to use, and it’s safe to use,” Groninger says. “There is a lot of promise here.”
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