Abstract：
Up to 75% of paediatric patients experience anxiety and distress before undergoing new medical procedures. Virtual reality is an interesting avenue for alleviating the stress and fear of paediatric patients due to its ability to completely immerse the child in the virtual world and thus expose them to the sights and sounds of an MRI before undergoing the exam. We aimed to explore the impact of virtual reality exposure on reducing fear and anxiety in paediatric patients scheduled to undergo an MRI. We hypothesised that patient who had undergone VR exposure before the MRI would experience lower levels of fear and anxiety and subsequently have a higher MRI success rate. We conducted a prospective randomized control trial in a tertiary paediatric hospital over three weeks. Inclusion criteria comprised children aged 4 to 14 undergoing MRI without medical contraindications for VR use. Thirty patients (16 in VR, 14 in control) were included in the study. The VR room, created in-house by a researcher, that the VR group experienced, simulated MRI room with typical sounds for up to 5 min before their actual MRI. Fear and anxiety were measured using the FACES scale before and after MRI for the control group as well as after VR exposure for the VR group. The VR group exhibited a significant reduction in anxiety post-VR exposure regarding the upcoming MRI (p = 0.009). There was no significant difference with regards to fear and anxiety between the VR and control groups before or after the MRI exam. There was no significant difference between the MRI exam success rates. VR exposure effectively reduces pre-MRI anxiety in paediatric patients who are about to undergo the exam, this is important as it alleviates the psychological burden on the child. This research is in line with previous findings, showing the validity of VR as a method of reducing pre-procedural paediatric anxiety and suggesting that complex VR experiences may not be necessary to have a significant impact. There is, however, a need for further investigation in this field using larger and MRI-naïve groups of patients.
摘要：
高达75％的儿科患者在接受新的医疗程序之前会经历焦虑和痛苦。虚拟现实是缓解儿科患者的压力和恐惧的一个有趣的途径，因为它能够使孩子完全沉浸在虚拟世界中，从而在接受检查之前将他们暴露在MRI的视野和声音中。我们旨在探讨虚拟现实暴露对减少计划接受MRI的儿科患者的恐惧和焦虑的影响。我们假设在MRI之前接受VR暴露的患者会经历较低水平的恐惧和焦虑，随后具有较高的MRI成功率。我们在一家三级儿科医院进行了为期三周的前瞻性随机对照试验。纳入标准包括4至14岁接受MRI的儿童，没有使用VR的医学禁忌症。30例患者（VR中16例，对照中的14个）被包括在研究中。VR房间,由研究人员在内部创建，VR团队经历过的，模拟MRI室与典型的声音长达5分钟之前，他们的实际MRI。对照组在MRI前后以及VR暴露后使用FACES量表测量恐惧和焦虑。关于即将进行的MRI，VR组表现出VR暴露后焦虑的显着降低（p=0.009）。在MRI检查之前或之后，VR组和对照组之间在恐惧和焦虑方面没有显着差异。MRI检查成功率差异无统计学意义。VR暴露有效地减少了即将接受检查的儿科患者的MRI前焦虑，这很重要，因为它减轻了孩子的心理负担。这项研究与以前的发现一致，显示VR作为一种减少术前儿科焦虑的方法的有效性，并表明复杂的VR体验可能不需要产生重大影响。有,然而,需要在这一领域进行进一步研究，使用更大的MRI初治患者组。
