SynthesisInternational journal of cancer2025
Effectiveness of virtual reality in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Systematic review.
Synthesis in International journal of cancer, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Virtual reality for cancer symptom management: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of virtual reality in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Systematic review.International journal of cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A scoping review of virtual reality technology utilization in patients with colorectal cancer.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Virtual Reality for Anxiety Reduction: A Mixed-Methods Preliminary Study on Blue Space Environments Among Healthy Participants.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Exploring the temporal dynamics of circadian rhythm-aligned VR intervention in mitigating fear of cancer recurrence: mediating roles of illness uncertainty and hope in gynecological cancer patients.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Effects of nature-based virtual reality interventions on physical and mental health symptoms in patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.BMJ health & care informatics · 2025Article
- Dropout Rate of Participants with Cancer in Randomized Clinical Trials That Use Virtual Reality to Manage Pain-A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Enhancing cancer-supportive care through virtual reality: a policy brief.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Usage of Virtual Reality Technology in Physiotherapy in Germany: Results from a Survey.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Virtual reality is on the rise and is currently postulated as one of the most innovative and promising techniques in the management of pain and anxiety in cancer patients, in the face of painful processes or the stress involved in chemotherapy treatment. The objective has been to find out the effectiveness of virtual reality in patients undergoing chemotherapy. Several literature reviews were conducted between November 2023 and January 2024 in the Pubmed, Web of Science and PEDro databases. The keywords "virtual reality," "cancer," "oncology," "exercise" and "chemotherapy" were combined using the Boolean operator AND. 641 manuscripts were selected as potential manuscripts and after elimination of duplicates and application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, six articles comprised the final review sample. Virtual reality has proven to be an effective technique in reducing the anxiety, pain, asthenia and stress suffered by patients diagnosed with cancer and chemotherapy treatment. The distraction generated by this therapeutic modality, with a wide range of scenarios, helps to reduce the painful perception and worry of these procedures. However, there are no standard application guidelines or application protocols that demonstrate the superiority of one technique over another. Virtual reality could be a valid complementary tool in the treatment of patients undergoing chemotherapy, showing positive results in pain reduction, anxiety, stress or asthenia. More studies are needed, with larger sample sizes and long-term follow-ups to establish treatment protocols in relation to the frequency, intensity, duration and periodicity of interventions with virtual reality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.