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Updated: May 3, 2026

Virtual Reality Experiments with Physiological Measures
Published on: August 29, 2018
What place for virtual reality in the intensive care unit during medical procedures?
Floriane Puel1, Vincent Minville1,2, Fanny Vardon-Bounes3,4,5
1Anesthesiology and Critical Care Unit, Toulouse University Hospital, 1 av du Pr Jean Poulhès, 31400, Toulouse, France.
Abstract:
In the intensive care unit, patients are subject to discomforts and pain. Their management is essentially based on pharmacologic approaches. Immersive virtual reality could represent an adjunctive non-invasive and non-pharmacological pain control technique. It is based on real-time interaction with an artificial 360° immersive world using interfaces that enable physical and emotional perceptions to make the user feel better trying to reduce pain perception and to limit anxiety. Evaluation of virtual reality in intensive care unit is lacking and further studies are necessary before to introduce this alternative method for critical patients.

