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Extended reality navigation for pain procedures: a narrative review
James Sungjai Cho1,2, Rohan Jotwani3, Stephanie Chan4
1Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA jcho@mgh.harvard.edu.
Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
|May 16, 2024
Summary
Extended reality (XR) offers potential for improved procedural navigation in pain medicine, similar to ultrasound in anesthesia. Further research is needed to confirm significant clinical benefits for pain procedures.
Area of Science:
- Pain Medicine
- Medical Technology
- Anesthesiology
Background:
- Extended reality (XR) encompasses virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, offering advanced procedural navigation capabilities.
- XR technology has the potential to significantly impact pain management and regional anesthesia procedures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the clinical benefits of XR for navigation in pain procedures.
- To define XR terminology and identify suitable pain procedures for XR navigation.
- To suggest best practices for XR system development and discuss future trends in pain medicine.
Main Methods:
- A systematic literature search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials.
- Included studies focused on the clinical benefits of XR navigation for pain procedures.
Main Results:
- Thirteen studies, including RCTs, retrospective studies, and case series, were included in the review.
- Early evidence suggests XR may enhance procedural efficiency.
Conclusions:
- Randomized controlled trials indicate potential for XR to improve procedural efficiency, but more research is necessary to establish definitive clinical benefits.
- XR is particularly useful for patient-specific navigation in complex anatomy, while procedures requiring frequent re-imaging may still rely on traditional methods.
