JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Bone marrow aspiration (BMA) is a medical procedure necessary to the diagnosis and/or monitoring of patients with hematological or non-hematological disorders. This procedure is considered as painful and patients are generally anxious before and during BMA.

Objective:

This work assessed the effect of immersive virtual reality on pain during BMA.

Methods:

This observational prospective and monocentric study enrolled 105 patients who underwent sternal BMA with lidocaine anesthesia. The study was carried on during two periods. First, virtual reality facemask (VRF) was suggested to all patients in the absence of exclusion criteria. During the second period, BMA were performed without the VRF. For all patients, pain intensity after the procedure was assessed using a 10-point numerical pain rating scale (NPRS). All analysis were performed on propensity score matched cohort (with or without VRF) to evaluate efficacy on NRPS levels.

Results:

Final matched cohort included 12 patients in the VRF group and 24 in control group. No difference in anxiety level before BMA evaluated by the patient himself and by the operator was observed between groups (p=0.71 and 0.42 respectively). No difference of NPRS was observed using VRF when compared to control group (median NPRS 3.8, IQR 2.0–6.3, vs 3.0, IQR 1.9–3.0 respectively, p= 0.09).

Conclusions:

Our study did not prove the efficacy of VRF to reduce pain during BMA.