VIrtual Reality Induced Pain and anxiEty Relief in Outpatient UROlogical Procedures

Overview

Though the efficacy of VRH is documented in various outpatient urological procedures and has provided promising preliminary information in prostate biopsy, its systematic use in urology remains poorly studied. Considering the potential of invasive urological procedures to induce significant patient discomfort, the application of innovative immersive approaches, such as those offered by medical devices, could lead to an overall clinical benefit. Among these, REALICA® (available from https://REALICA.io/en/), a class I CE medical device, widely used in hospitals and validated by numerous studies, represents a valuable resource in urology, supported by high satisfaction rates received in abdominal surgery and extracorporeal lithotripsy

Routine outpatient urological procedures, including circumcision, prostate biopsy, and flexible cystoscopy, despite being minimally invasive, are often accompanied by high levels of preoperative anxiety and anticipatory pain. Inadequate management of such symptoms not only compromises patient experience and compliance with future treatments, but can also lead to procedural stress-related complications such as intraoperative hypertension and tachycardia. Consequently, the identification and implementation of effective strategies to mitigate these events are of primary importance. Traditionally, pharmacological sedatives are used to alleviate anxiety and pain; however, these can cause adverse events, require intensive monitoring, and increase healthcare costs, slowing patient turnover in outpatient settings. For this reason, non-pharmacological strategies, known as "digital sedation" and including virtual reality, music therapy, and biofeedback, are emerging as effective options to optimize patient comfort while limiting exposure to sedative drugs. In particular, medical hypnosis promotes a state of deep relaxation and focused attention, demonstrating its applicability in the management of chronic and procedural pain, as well as in anxiety reduction in various clinical settings. Among these strategies, Virtual Reality Hypnosis (VRH) combines interactive immersion in three-dimensional environments with guided hypnotic scripts, leveraging distraction and suggestion mechanisms to modulate the perception of anxiety and pain. Recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses have corroborated the effectiveness of VRH in heterogeneous contexts (bronchoscopy, interventional radiology, dentistry, and orthopedics) with significant reductions in subjective pain scores and autonomic stress parameters (heart rate, blood pressure). For example, Ahmad et al. (2020) found an average 20-30% improvement in pain and anxiety levels in cancer patients undergoing invasive procedures \[8\], while Georgescu et al. (2020) documented an effect size up to 0.8 for VRH analgesia in procedural settings. Zheng et al. (2022) further demonstrated an increase of over 15% in nociceptive pain threshold and favorable modulation of autonomic functions in healthy volunteers. Finally, Teh, Jia J et al. (2024), including 23 randomized trials, highlighted an average 25% decrease in intra-procedural pain and significant comfort improvement, reinforcing VRH's potential as a digital sedation tool. In the urological field, controlled studies have utilized VRH sets during flexible cystoscopy, achieving significant reductions in anxiety, pain, and hemodynamic parameters compared to controls; analogous results have been confirmed by technical feasibility and symptom decrease in rigid cystoscopies. The integration of VRH masks in minimally invasive functional urological interventions has achieved satisfaction rates exceeding 90% and reductions of up to 35% in self-reported pain. Further preliminary studies on transperineal prostate biopsy have also shown trends towards a decrease in anxiety state and increased willingness to repeat the procedure, while an ongoing trial is evaluating the effectiveness of VRH headphones on anxiety and comfort during transrectal biopsy. Finally, a recent mini-review highlighted the potential of VRH as a supportive tool for local anesthesia in outpatient urological procedures, as well as the need for further randomized studies to define specific protocols.