Trial reportJournal of medical Internet research2022
Effect of Virtual Reality Hypnosis on Pain Threshold and Neurophysiological and Autonomic Biomarkers in Healthy Volunteers: Prospective Randomized Crossover Study.
Trial report in Journal of medical Internet research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07338292 (VIrtual Reality Induced Pain and anxiEty Relief in Outpatient UROlogical Procedures), which is not on this map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
VIrtual Reality Induced Pain and anxiEty Relief in Outpatient UROlogical Procedures: a Post-marketing Clinical Investigation of REALICA
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mind over pain: VR-based hypnotherapy for chronic non-specific low back pain - a randomised controlled trial.Irish journal of medical science · 2026Trial
- Pain Reduction With an Immersive Digital Therapeutic in Women Living With Endometriosis-Related Pelvic Pain: At-Home Self-Administered Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Comparison of Experimental Pain Modulation by Hypnosis, Virtual Reality and Virtual Reality Hypnosis in Healthy Individuals.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Article
- Article
- Hypnotic Modulation of Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) Activity.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Virtual reality hypnosis diminishes experimental cold pain and alters autonomic responses.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundVirtual reality hypnosis (VRH) is a promising tool to reduce pain. However, the benefits of VRH on pain perception and on the physiological expression of pain require further investigation.
objectiveIn this study, we characterized the effects of VRH on the heat pain threshold among adult healthy volunteers while monitoring several physiological and autonomic functions.
methodsSixty healthy volunteers were prospectively included to receive nociceptive stimulations. The first set of thermal stimuli consisted of 20 stimulations at 60°C (duration 500 milliseconds) to trigger contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs). The second set of thermal stimuli consisted of ramps (1°C/second) to determine the heat pain threshold of the participants. Electrocardiogram, skin conductance responses, respiration rate, as well as the analgesia nociception index were also recorded throughout the experiment.
resultsData from 58 participants were analyzed. There was a small but significant increase in pain threshold in VRH (50.19°C, SD 1.98°C) compared to that in the control condition (mean 49.45°C, SD 1.87; P<.001, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test; Cohen d=0.38). No significant effect of VRH on CHEPs and heart rate variability parameters was observed (all P>0.5; n=22 and n=52, respectively). During VRH, participants exhibited a clear reduction in their autonomic sympathetic tone, as shown by the lower number of nonspecific skin conductance peak responses (P<.001, two-way analysis of variance; n=39) and by an increase in the analgesia nociception index (P<.001, paired t-test; n=40).
conclusionsThe results obtained in this study support the idea that VRH administration is effective at increasing heat pain thresholds and impacts autonomic functions among healthy volunteers. As a nonpharmacological intervention, VRH has beneficial action on acute experimental heat pain. This beneficial action will need to be evaluated for the treatment of other types of pain, including chronic pain.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.