The hospital began to use virtual reality to relieve the pain of patients. Morphine seems to be laid off.

Deona Duke is a 13-year-old girl. When she was playing around with a friend on a campfire, it happened unfortunately: the bonfire exploded, and the sudden flame burned her into a fire. After waking up from a coma, Duke had to accept the fact that he had burned one third of his body and began his long journey of recovery. However, the road to recovery is quite difficult. In order to prevent infection, the doctor will change the gauze for her wound every day. When changing gauze, it will bring a layer of skin every time. Sometimes even if it is morphine, it is hard to bear. Imagine it.

Patient's analgesic

During the rehabilitation process, Duke's attending doctor gave her a VR headset one day. After bringing the VR helmet, the little girl immediately immersed herself in the "ice world". She can make snowmen and snowballs as she pleases, and forget the troubles caused by the illness for the time being.

This Texas hospital has also become one of the few pilot units that rely on virtual reality technology to alleviate the suffering of patients.

“I have never heard of virtual reality before, so I was surprised,” Duke said. "But I did turn my attention elsewhere when I put it on, so the doctor didn't hurt the gauze."

Relying on VR technology to alleviate the pain is still in the experimental stage, but VR supporters believe that it is indeed an effective treatment for pain, Alzheimer's disease, phobia and depression. In addition, as major technology companies invest heavily in VR, their hardware and software costs are gradually decreasing, and they can become a new alternative to hospitals.

VR can relieve the pain and has sufficient theoretical support: after entering the virtual world, the excess sensory input can control the working mode of human thinking, divert people's attention to the pain, and thus alleviate the pain.

"Pain is also a protective mechanism. When your body is hurt, it will scream like an alarm clock, causing your attention," said Stamford's painkiller expert Beth Darnall. Stanford has done a lot of clinical research with VR technology, and it can indeed be called a psychological painkiller that can “slow the nervous system and suppress pain.”

Two young psychologists at the Brotherhood Hospital in the Holy Land have studied the important role of VR technology. They have similar results to Dr. Dave Patterson of the Seattle Burn Center. Patients who have received VR technology are unwell during treatment. The feeling is really reduced. In addition to asking the patient, the doctor also scanned the patient's brain with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and found that they did not hurt so much.

Feasibility study

At the Sidas Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, Ronald Yarbrough is waiting anxiously. He looks at the hospital's apron from time to time, and after a while there will be a helicopter carrying a donated heart. Previously, Yarbrough used an artificial heart, but the artificial heart had begun to fail, and now he can only rely on machines to sustain life.

In order to alleviate Yarbrough's psychological pressure, the doctor gave him a Samsung Gear VR. The company named AppliedVR also created a software for him, hoping to help him forget the fact that he was in a small ward. This method works quite well. Yarbrough said that after taking the VR helmet, his muscles are much more relaxed and the pain is reduced.

"I have eaten a lot of painkillers, but now I have lost a lot of pain by diverting my attention," said the 54-year-old truck driver. He is also preparing to buy a VR helmet after retirement. "This guy surprised me. I can't think of it."

Proponents of VR technology think it is much better than painkillers, and it won't be addictive for long-term use. However, the effect of VR's analgesic effect needs further research. After all, there are many patients in the world who are suffering from chronic pain. These people can't always wear VR helmets all day long.

“Before the birth of VR technology, people generally relied on hypnosis, yoga and meditation to alleviate the pain. VR is indeed very promising, but it is too early to conclude.” Houman Danesh said that he is a comprehensive pain at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Director.

Before the idea that VR is the best analgesic is widely accepted by the public, we still need a lot of research. Dr. Brennan Spiegel of the Siestas Sinai Hospital is preparing to spread the study to more patients. Through research, he found that older patients had some resistance to VR technology. A dying patient chose to refuse VR helmet treatment, and a female patient who had tasted sweetness immediately bought a VR helmet when she got home.

“As a scientist, I really want to figure out how virtual reality is so powerful,” Spiegel said. He witnessed more than 150 patients regaining their smiles with the help of VR technology. "VR does affect the human brain."

How does VR spark with medicine?

Seeing this, there are certainly many readers who will ask, who is so talented to combine VR and pain management? In fact, this collision of wisdom is completely an accident. Tom Furness is a professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Washington. He is one of the first people in the school to get involved with VR. Furness began to pay attention to VR when he was in the Air Force 50 years ago. He then led the development of more than 20 VR-related products, the most famous of which was a consumer-grade head-mounted device in 1993. And failed, but many of its limited buyers include many dentists.

“Dentists love to wear this headset because the patient complains less when they wear it,” Furness said. “It’s also labor-saving to give your child a tooth.”

This moment is the source of sparks between VR and medicine. Later, people began to study this phenomenon. However, as Furness encountered, the price of VR equipment has become a life-threatening obstacle to its popularity. Initially, VR devices for medical treatment cost $35,000.

However, this situation will be completely changed this year. VR devices are flying from geek studios to ordinary people's homes, and their prices are bound to drop dramatically.

Hospitalization is a big part of medical expenses. It can account for 30% of the US$3 trillion in medical expenses each year. Therefore, compared with hospitalization expenses, VR equipment hardware and software expenditures can only be considered drizzling. As long as it can prove that VR equipment has a miraculous effect on pain relief, his appeal to the hospital will be very large. In addition to the AppliedVR mentioned above, a startup called DeepStream VR is actively working with hospitals to develop software and systems for patients.

However, at this stage, VR is not a panacea. Because of the small amount of content, patients will soon get bored, and this will greatly reduce the effect of pain relief.

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