Use of Virtual Reality Goggles to Alleviate Peri-Procedural Anxiety in Pediatric Interventional Radiology

Monday, March 31, 2025

4:45 PM – 4:50 PM CT

Location: Music City Center, 205 A

Abstract Presenter(s)

Lavi Nissim, MD

Interventional Radiologist
Phoenix Childrens Hospital, United States

Author/Co-author(s)

Sudhen Desai, MD, FSIR

Vice Chief, Radiology and Section Chief, Interventional Radiology
Phoenix Children's Hospital, United States
CV

Carmen Vela, BS

Radiology Student, Care Navigator
Phoenix Children's Hospital, United States

Learning Objectives: Use of Virtual Reality (VR) goggles in improving Anxiety during Pediatric IR Procedures

Background: The use of virtual reality (VR) goggles is expanding in perioperative care as a method of distracting patients from stress of operative intervention and enabling patient cooperation. In the pediatric Interventional Radiology (IR) setting, VR use may help decrease sedation requirements or need for anesthesia for certain procedures or imaging studies, or even preclude the need for pharmacologic intervention such as procedural sedation. The goal of this study is to present preliminary prospective evaluation of the utility of VR goggles for IR procedures in a free-standing pediatric center.

Clinical Findings/Procedure Details: Candidates for use of VR goggles included cooperative patients at least 12 years of age undergoing procedures of at least 15 minutes duration. Exclusion criteria included patients who were non-cooperative, patients undergoing procedures involving manipulation in the face region, patients with active respiratory infection, or procedures of duration < 15 minutes or requiring moderate procedural sedation. Patients were given the VR goggles with options to watch relaxing nature-themed or meditative videos commencing prior to the procedure and terminating after the procedure was completed, with the option to remove the goggles at any time if they were not tolerated. Patients were then asked to rate their experience on a scale of 1-3 (1 = negative, 2 = neutral, 3 = positive) as well as provide verbal commentary regarding their experience.

19 patients met criteria for the study from the period of May - August 2024 (4 months), of which 12 consented to use of the VR goggles during their procedure. The mean age of the cohort who underwent their IR procedure with VR goggles was 17.0 years old (range 13 - 25). Of the 12 patients, 9 rated their experience "3 = positive", 2 rated their experience "2 = neutral" and 1 rated their experience "1 = negative", mean rating 2.7. 11 of the 12 patients also provided subjective feedback as to their experience with the VR goggles (Table 1).

Conclusion and/or Teaching Points: Overall, the use of VR goggles in our cohort of patients undergoing IR procedures in a free-standing pediatric center was met with positive feedback. The use of virtual reality may have an expanding role in reducing anxiety during pediatric IR procedure and reduce the need for more conventional methods of sedation such as conscious sedation or general anesthesia.