Is virtual reality useful for pain management in patients who undergo medical procedures?

ABSTRACT Pain management is a complex medical issue, and many efforts have been done to develop new non-pharmacological therapies. Virtual reality is a technology apparatus that make an interaction between human and virtual environment through an hardware (usually a headset) linked to a computer or...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Daniel Melecchi de Oliveira Freitas, Viviane Souto Spadoni
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Instituto Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa Albert Einstein
Series:Einstein (São Paulo)
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1679-45082019000200800&lng=en&tlng=en
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Summary:ABSTRACT Pain management is a complex medical issue, and many efforts have been done to develop new non-pharmacological therapies. Virtual reality is a technology apparatus that make an interaction between human and virtual environment through an hardware (usually a headset) linked to a computer or a mobile, by using a software. Additionally, this virtual setting can be adapted to any type of scenario. Thus, it is plausible that the software used should be personalized depending on patient’s experiences and expectations. The use of virtual reality as a medical tool for pain relief or decrease analgesics use by promoting a cognitive distraction is a low cost and promising instrument for pain management in patients who undergo medical procedures.
ISSN:2317-6385