Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/4VSFYpvclCQ   A VR trip to far-off lands or a challenging VR adventure game may curb pain without the risks of medicine.  UCLA researchers proved that point by quantitating the pain of 120 hospital patients half of whom were randomized to use virtual reality headsets three times a day for a two day study period.   Those treated to the VR sessions recorded nearly 4 times less pain than controls.  Those with the most severe pain recorded a 3 fold reduction in their discomfort.  The VR helped a broad range of surgical pain including gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, and neurologic.   Virtual reality is being employed in an ever broader group of medical applications.  I’ve reported its use for treating phobias, but it is also in current use teaching medical students and nurses, training surgeons, interpreting xrays and scans, planning radiation therapy and surgery, speeding rehabilitation, and enhancing telemedicine.   PLoS ONE, online August 14, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.p