Is Xbox 360 Kinect-based virtual reality training as effective as standard physiotherapy in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery?

Virtual Reality for Pain Management in Cancer: A Comprehensive Review

“…However, the type of cancer in each study differs considerably, as shown in Table II. Approximately, 23% of the papers were focused on breast cancer treatments [22], [23], [26], [27], [28], [31], [35], [37], [39], [41] followed by blood cancer (e.g., leukaemia, lymphoblastic, etc.) (12%) [21], [25], [33], [36], [38], bone cancer (12%) [25], [29], [33], [38], [40], and brain cancer (12%) [25], [32], [33], [38], [40].…”

“…Further to the type of cancer, almost half of the studies examined the effectiveness of VR in accordance to pain (65%). Most focused on Acute-Procedural Pain (38%) [21], [24], [25], [26], [27], [29], [36], [37], [41], [42]. The pain was induced via venipuncture, surgery and biopsies, while the remaining 15% cases of pain, as a result of chronic conditions [24], [31], [39], [40].…”

“…Regarding the effectiveness of VR on pain management and cancer, most of the studies outcomes were positive (83%) [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [32] , [30], [31], [33], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42] and less than quarter neutral (17%) [28], [29], [34], [35], while negative results were not reported. To illustrate this, it was found that the use of VR can reduce pain [21], [24], [25], [26], [27], [29], [37], [39], [40] improve emotional wellbeing [21], [23], [24], [29], [32], [33], [34], [35], [38], [39], [40], [42] enhance the rehabilitation training [20], [26], [27], [3...…”

“…To illustrate this, it was found that the use of VR can reduce pain [21], [24], [25], [26], [27], [29], [37], [39], [40] improve emotional wellbeing [21], [23], [24], [29], [32], [33], [34], [35], [38], [39], [40], [42] enhance the rehabilitation training [20], [26], [27], [30], [31], [36], [37], [41] and be an assistive technology for clinicians, during the medical evaluation process at [22], of the studies as shown in Table III. In particular, the reviewed studies reported that VR can improve and enhance the rehabilitation training, by minimizing the sensation of pain the patients are feeling during their trainings [26], [27], [37] and maximizing the patients' range of movements and functional abilities [31], [36], [37], [41]. VR can also reduce pain during venipuncture in children and teenagers suffering from cancer [21], [25], [38].…”

“…People who are suffering from cancer undergo through painful medical processes including medical examinations, surgeries, biopsies, chemotherapies, and others. VR has been used to treat the procedural pain cancer patients are dealing with, reporting positive results [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42]. This study presents a review of research, for the last 10 years (2010- 19) and examines the use of VR technology for cancer patients who undergo painful medical processes.…”