Virtual reality in alleviation of cancerous fatigue of patients undergoing chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer
10.3969/j.issn.1671-8283.2023.10.001
- VernacularTitle:虚拟现实技术在晚期非小细胞肺癌化疗患者癌因性疲乏中的应用
- Author:
Xiaomin XU
1
;
Fen GU
;
Lihua JI
;
Ping WANG
Author Information
1. 上海市宝山区吴淞中心医院,心内肾内科,上海宝山,200940
- Keywords:
non-small cell cancer;
chemotherapy;
virtual reality;
cancerous fatigue
- From:
Modern Clinical Nursing
2023;22(10):1-7
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective To evaluate the effect of virtual reality(VR)on alleviation of fatigue in patients undergoing chemotherapy for non-small cell cancer so as to enhance the quality of life of the patients.Methods This study was conducted with a quasi-randomised controlled trial.Sixty patients with non-small cell cancer treated under initial chemotherapy in a general hospital in Shanghai were enrolled in the study between January 2020 and January 2021.The patients in Ward-Ⅰ were assigned as the control group and those in Ward-Ⅱ as the trial group,with 30 patients per group.The patients in control group was treated with routine nursing strategy and those in the trial group with VR intervention in addition to routine nursing.An interactive immersion with six 3-D switching relaxation-oriented scenes was introduced in the VR intervention including travel,starry sky,four seasons,globe,parks and ocean world.Patients received a 20-minute VR intervention before chemotherapy at two times per week during the intermittent periods of chemotherapy.The revised piper fatigue scale in Chinese version(RPFS-CV)was used to assess the patients on admission and early,middle and late phases referring the third,fifth and seventh courses of the chemotherapy,respectively.Scores of the assessments were compared between the groups.Results All of the 60 patients had smoothly completed the 7 courses of chemotherapy.With repeated measures analysis of variance,the differences were found to be statistically significant in the scores of RPFS-CV,time,and interaction across different time points(all P<0.001).The scores of RPFS-CV taken at the fifth and seventh courses of chemotherapy in the trial group were significantly lower than that of the control group(P<0.001).There were no significant differences in the scores of RPFS-CV within the control group at the fifth and seventh courses of chemotherapy,but the differences were statistically significant in the other courses of chemotherapy(P<0.008 or P<0.001),showing a trend that the later the treatment course,the higher the score of RPFS-CV would be,and ultimately it went steady.In the trial group,there was no significant difference between the third course of chemotherapy and the fifth and seventh courses,as well as between the fifth and seventh courses(P>0.05);but the score taken before the chemotherapy was significantly lower as compared to those taken at the third,fifth and seventh courses(all P<0.001).Conclusion VR intervention with deep relaxation immersive interactive experience could inhibit fatigue by activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and facilitating the secretion of cortisol via enhancing visual stimulation,thus alleviating cancer fatigue in patients undergoing chemotherapy for non-small cell cancer.
