Virtual Reality May Allow Patients to Experience A Less Severe Anesthetic.

The VR group required significantly less propofol (in this instance, to numb pain in the hand) than the non-VR. They were given 125.3 mg per hour, compared to 750.6 milligrams an hour for the rest of the study. This is described in PLoS One. Post-anesthesia recovery units were also faster for VR patients than the non-VR ones. They took 63 minutes to leave the VR group, compared with 75 minutes for the other group.

Researchers believe that the VR group required lower doses of anesthetic because they were less distracted than the ones who did not have virtual visual stimuli. The team admits that it is possible that VR could have been used to help surgeons before they entered surgery. Future trials will be required to explore this possibility.

A patient’s need for anesthesia can be reduced to reduce hospital stay and prevent complications to save money on drugs.

Adeel Faruki (an assistant professor in anesthesiology from the University of Colorado), who was the leader of the study, said that the team plans to conduct a second trial with patients undergoing knee and hip surgery.

The evidence is mounting that VR can be used as a surgical aid. Brenda Wiederhold, co-founder, and CEO of Virtual Reality Medical Center was not part of the study. Medical experts would have to monitor patients for cyber sick, which is a form of motion sickness that VR can trigger in some people.

She says, “We have so many use cases for VR/surgery, such as cesarean births or pre- and post-cardiac surgery.”

Wiederhold believes that VR could be beneficial not only for medical procedures but also afterward, as it reduces the risk of chronic pain. She says, “That’s quite exciting.”