Adjunct VR Pain Management in Acute Brain Injury

April 1, 2023 updated by: Nicholas Morris, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Adjunct Virtual Reality Pain Management in Acute Brain Injury

Severe and refractory pain after acute injury is a known-risk factor for chronic opioid use disorder. In this study, the investigators will use Virtual Reality (VR) immersion as a non-pharmacological adjunct to treat pain associated with acute traumatic injuries, including traumatic brain injury. The investigators hypothesize that VR therapy will decrease pain and reduce opioid use in patients with acute traumatic injuries, including TBI.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Each participant will undergo one VR session and two control sessions. The VR session will take place in a commercially available VR environment, the Blu, and last 20-30 minutes (VR Blu). The control sessions will include a 2D-tablet based session that mimics the VR content (Tablet Blu) and a content-less placement of the VR headset (VR Blank). The order of these sessions will be randomized across participants are intended to complete all sessions.

Each participant will complete a pre-study questionnaire to elicit their prior experience with the virtual reality as well as measures of gaming addiction/engagement, boredom, and expectancy. These scales will help us determine which patient-level factors predict response to VR. Before and after each session, participants will complete validated scales of pain, nausea, and anxiety.. Pre- and Post-VR opioid use will be recorded. Basic vital signs including heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate, will be recorded before and after each session to monitor autonomic response. Advanced measures of autonomic response will include heart rate variability,,and pupillometry metrics. At the conclusion of all sessions, participants will complete another questionnaire to document their subjective experience of using VR (perceived effectiveness)

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
60

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21201
        • University of Maryland Medical Center
      • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21201
        • R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of Traumatic Injury (including but not limited to traumatic brain injury)
  • Age greater than or equal to 18 years-old
  • Endorsing at least moderate pain as defined by documentation of at least one numeric rating pain scale score of 3 or more in the last 24 hours.
  • Glasgow Coma Scale of 15
  • Expected to stay in the hospital for at least 12 hours after enrollment

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Seizure prior to enrollment
  • Pregnancy
  • non-English speaking
  • Known intolerance of Virtual Reality
  • Patient unable to consent for themselves

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: All patients
All patients were intended to engage in three different 20-30 min sessions run by research coordinators and spaced a minimum of 4 hours apart to allow for washout of effects, including 1) a commercially available, immersive VR environment, theBlu (WEVR, Inc, Venice, California, USA) delivered via Oculus Rift (Oculus VR, Irvine, California, USA) headset (VR Blu), 2) a non-immersive two-dimensional mimic delivered via a tablet computer (Tablet Blu), and 3) a VR control session delivered via a content-less Oculus Rift headset (VR Blank). The three sessions were run by research coordinators and spaced a minimum of 4 hours apart. The intervention order was counterbalanced using a randomized sequence generator.
Behavioral: Virtual Reality Session (VR Blu)
20-30 minute session of virtual reality immersive content.
Behavioral: Tablet-based Session (Tablet Blu)
20-30 minute session of tablet-based content that mimics the content from virtual reality sessions.
Behavioral: Use of Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display without Content (VR Blank)
20-30 minutes session using head mounted display to reduce light and sound.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Pain Score
Time Frame: Pre- and Post-Intervention (approximately 30 minutes)
Pre- vs. Post-Intervention Ratings on Numeric Pain Rating Scale. Numeric Pain Rating scale range is from 0 (no pain) -10 (severe pain)
Pre- and Post-Intervention (approximately 30 minutes)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Opioid Administration
Time Frame: 4 hours post-intervention vs. 4 hours pre-intervention
Change in amount of opioids received in the 4 hours post-intervention vs. the 4 hours pre-intervention in morphine equivalents
4 hours post-intervention vs. 4 hours pre-intervention

Other Outcome Measures

Other Outcome Measures

For clinical trials, a planned measurement described in the protocol that is used to determine the effect of an intervention/treatment on participants. For observational studies, a measurement or observation that is used to describe patterns of diseases or traits, or associations with exposures, risk factors, or treatment. Types of outcome measures include primary outcome measure and secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Nausea
Time Frame: Pre- and Post-Intervention (approximately 30 minutes)
Pre- vs. Post-Intervention Ratings on Numeric Rating Scale for Nausea. Numeric Rating Scale for Nausea ranges from 0 (no nausea) - 10 (worst nausea possible)
Pre- and Post-Intervention (approximately 30 minutes)
Change in Anxiety
Time Frame: Pre- and Post-Intervention (approximately 30 minutes)
Pre- vs. Post-Intervention Anxiety Ratings from Short-Form State Anxiety Inventory. Scores Range from 6 (Not at all anxious) - 24 (Very much amxious)
Pre- and Post-Intervention (approximately 30 minutes)
Change Heart Rate Variability
Time Frame: Mean NN from last 15 minutes of each intervention compared to mean NN from 15 minutes immediately prior to intervention
Pre- vs. Post-Intervention Heart Rate Variability as measured by normal-to-normal (NN) means. Decreasing NN means are associated with the activity of sympathetic system, while increasing NN means means are associated with the activity of parasympathetic nervous system
Mean NN from last 15 minutes of each intervention compared to mean NN from 15 minutes immediately prior to intervention
Change in Pupillometry
Time Frame: Pre- and Post-Intervention (approximately 30 minutes)
Pre- vs. Post-Intervention Pupillary Maximum Constriction Velocity. Reduced pupillary maximum constriction velocity is representative of decreased parasympathetic nervous system activity.
Pre- and Post-Intervention (approximately 30 minutes)
Subjective Measures of VR Experience
Time Frame: Pre- and Post-study (approximately 2-3 days)
A Likert-Scale questionnaire was used to assess participant's subjective ratings of how effective the interventional sessions were. The scale ranged from 0 (not at all) to 5 (very much).
Pre- and Post-study (approximately 2-3 days)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Maryland, Baltimore

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
University of Maryland Baltimore, Institute for Clinical & Translational Research

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Nicholas A Morris, M.D., University of Maryland School of Medicine

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 5, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
January 7, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
April 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
April 19, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 19, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
April 22, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
April 24, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 1, 2023

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • HP - 00090603
  • 1UL1TR003098 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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