Friday, April 28, 2017

Virtual reality adds a new dimension to pain management in labor.

appliedVR

Virtual Reality is no longer just a part of Sci-Fi movies but it has moved from realm of fiction to world of reality. Besides being used in virtual reality gaming, the technology holds endless potential for application in healthcare industry.

It finds its application in numerous areas of medicine like medical education, training young surgeons for reality of OR, treating patients with mental health problems and relieving acute and chronic pain, including the pain during labor.

Virtual Reality ability to distract mother from pain during labor could redefine the need of epidural in childbirth.

Dr. Ralph Anderson, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Orange Regional Medical Center in Middletown, New York found that by giving expectant mothers VR headsets that immerse them in specially designed 3D environments, anxiety and pain were often reduced.

“I wanted to make their experience better,” Anderson said of his patients. “I started using this device mainly around the office with my staff, but my idea all along was to find a way to use it in the hospital.”

He got the first opportunity to use VR during labor when one of his patient Erin Martucci refused to have an epidural shot and asked for an alternative.


She was given a pre-programmed Samsung Gear VR headset, with instructions like “focus on the birds” and “remember to breathe” delivered by a pre-recorded narrator.

The VR headset took her out of hospital room and deposited her on a scenic overlook of California’s Big Sur. The crashing waves, soothing sounds and helpful instructions were able to help this mother manage her pain.

Minutes after taking off the device she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

Martucci is believed to be the first woman to use virtual reality (VR) for pain management during labor.

Besides its application in labor pain management Dr.Anderson has used this technology for managing  antenatal patients who are confined to bed for long to help them get over the boredom, cervical biopsies or in  difficult pelvic exams and placement of balloons for induction of  labor.   

The company that created the virtual environment for Dr Anderson is AppliedVR, it has partnered with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for clinical studies.

Childbirth is just one example of VR based pain management, it can be very useful in managing pain due to burns also.

VR has the potential to suppress pain in other medical procedures, too. “Because of its immersive and distractive nature, researchers believe that VR may be safer and more effective than traditional analgesic methods,” researchers from Shanghai’s Tongji University wrote in a June 2016 evaluation of the use of VR for pain management.

Researchers at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are also further exploring the possibility of the use of VR for chronic pain management.

Patients having chronic pain are using Samsung Gear VR technology once during their inpatient stay and later completing a survey about the experience.

Dr. Brennan Spiegel, director of Cedars-Sinai Health Services Research, envisions the eventual need for VR pharmacies — libraries of different types of VR content that specialists can match to the needs of specific patients.

The basics of VR kit is the headset that looks like a thick pair of goggles which goes over your eyes, and a smartphone that is clipped in front of the handset.

More expensive high end headsets are connected to a computer to run the apps and games. There are other number of accessories to simulate the experience of being in another world.


VR devices have own app store where you can view the apps and download it.
                                                 
                                                               Virtual Reality | Cedars-Sinai

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