ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT05723861Updated Jul 3, 2023

Virtual Reality During Colonoscopy

An interventional study of VR in Virtual Reality and Colonoscopy, sponsored by Herlev and Gentofte Hospital. Completed at 1 site in Denmark. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-07-03.

Sponsored by Herlev and Gentofte Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
50
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This project will use a randomized controlled trial to test the effect of using Virtual Reality on pain, anxiety, patients' comfort, and satisfaction during colonoscopy. Patients will use a virtual reality head-mounted display and choose a visualized VR content to watch during colonoscopy. Colonoscopy will be initiated without standard sedatives and narcotics and using virtual reality distraction for as long as the patient would like (for a maximum of 20 minutes). Participants could opt out and/or request standard medications for pain at any time before or during the procedure.

Read the detailed description

This project aims to investigate the clinical effectiveness and implementation potential of using VR during colonoscopy using a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation design through 2 work packages. The first work package will investigate the effect of VR on pain, anxiety, patients' comfort, and satisfaction during colonoscopy using a multicenter parallel randomized controlled, open-label trial. It will also be a qualitative interview to explore the healthcare professionals' and patients' experiences with using VR during colonoscopy.

The second work package will evaluate the implementation process using mix method to understand why the intervention is (or is not) more effective than usual care, whether high intervention fidelity is achieved, what barriers and facilitators there are, how these may translate into real-world implementation, and what modifications can be made to maximize implementation success. This will be achieved using quantitative and qualitative approaches with a focus on the process evaluation around the RE-AIM framework (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance). Quantitative (e.g., quantitative analysis of patient participation rate and reasons for refusal assessment or ineligibility) and qualitative (e.g., qualitative interview of facilitators/barriers to implementing VR) data analyses will be combined to conclude the reach, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the intervention.

The specific aims of the project will be pursued through 2 work packages and include:

Intervention effectiveness work package Study I: To investigate the effect of VR on pain, anxiety, patients' comfort, and satisfaction during colonoscopy.

Study II: To explore the healthcare professionals' and patients' experiences with using VR during colonoscopy.

Implementation work package

Qualitative part:

  1. To explore facilitators/barriers to adoption and implementing using VR during colonoscopy.
  2. To explore the facilitators/barriers to sustaining using VR during colonoscopy after the study was completed.

Quantitative part:

1) To examine the potential of using VR under colonoscopy for reach and adoption.

Participants will be recruited from adult patients referred to the two outpatient Endoscopy Units. Patients who meet the inclusion criteria and give written consent will be consecutively enrolled in the trial. These patients will be randomly allocated to an experimental group (using VR), or a control group (routine care). Outcomes will be measured immediately before, after, and/or during the procedure.

Some patients in the intervention group and healthcare professionals will be asked to participate in a qualitative interview to share their experiences of using VR under colonoscopy and to evaluate the implementation process.

02

Conditions studied

  • Virtual Reality
  • Colonoscopy

Keywords

  • Colonoscopy
  • Virtual Reality
  • Anxiety
  • Pain
  • Patient comfort
03

In context

Anxiety Disorders

5,063 studies on the registry are indexed under Anxiety Disorders; 1,408 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 50 is below the median of 80 across 4,339 interventional studies indexed under Anxiety Disorders.

Browse Anxiety Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

Herlev and Gentofte Hospital is the lead sponsor of 74 studies on the registry; 24 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • age ≥ 18
  • any elective indication of colonoscopy

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • having visual impairments,
  • having dementia
  • limited Danish language skills
  • a high tendency to travel sickness
  • having skin disease in the facial area
  • having epilepsy
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
50 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    VR group

    Participants will receive Virtual Reality intervention in addition to routine care during colonoscopy.

    Device: VR

  • No intervention
    Control group

    Receive routine treatment.

Interventions

  • DeviceVR

    We will use the Pico Headset, a three-dimensional Gear with a connected tablet, and will be positioned on the head with elastic straps. Patients will be instructed about the VR device before their procedure and virtual experiences will initiate just before colonoscope insertion and continuously delivered throughout the procedure for max of 20 minutes. Patients will experience max of 20 minutes of VR and if colonoscopy lasts longer than 20 min, the remaining time of colonoscopy will be performed without using VR. The visualized content of VR will be chosen by the participants among three available contents including beach, nature, or mountain with relaxing music. Participants could opt out and/or request standard medications for pain at any time before or during the procedure.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Patient pain before colonoscopy procedure

    Patients will rate their pain using an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 (highest imaginable pain).

    Time frame: 5 - 15 minutes before starting colonoscopy.

  2. Patient pain during colonoscopy procedure

    Patients will rate their pain using an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 (highest imaginable pain).

    Time frame: During the colonoscopy procedure (from the time colonoscopy is started until ended).

  3. Patient pain after colonoscopy procedure

    Patients will rate their pain using an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 (highest imaginable pain).

    Time frame: 5 - 15 minutes after the colonoscopy is ended.

  4. Patient anxiety before colonoscopy procedure

    Patient anxiety will be measured by the short form of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) which has five items with a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 to 3.

    Time frame: 5 - 15 minutes before starting colonoscopy.

  5. Patient anxiety after colonoscopy procedure

    Patient anxiety will be measured by the short form of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) which has five items with a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 to 3.

    Time frame: 5 - 15 minutes after the colonoscopy is ended.

  6. Patient comfort during colonoscopy procedure

    Patient comfort will be measured by a nurse/researcher using the five-point Modified. Gloucester Comfort Scale (MGCS) ranging from 1 (no discomfort) to 5 (severe discomfort).

    Time frame: During the colonoscopy procedure (from the time colonoscopy is started until ended).

  7. Patient comfort after colonoscopy procedure

    Patient comfort will be measured by a nurse/researcher using the five-point Modified. Gloucester Comfort Scale (MGCS) ranging from 1 (no discomfort) to 5 (severe discomfort).

    Time frame: 5 - 15 minutes after the colonoscopy is ended.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Patient satisfaction

    Patient satisfaction with the procedure will be measured using an 11-point numeric rating scale ranging from 0 (no satisfaction at all) to 10 (definitely satisfied).

    Time frame: 5 - 15 minutes after the colonoscopy is ended.

  2. Patient / healthcare professional experience with using VR during colonoscopy

    Qualitative interview of some patients in the intervention group and and healthcare professionals.

    Time frame: 30 minutes - one week after the procedure

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Department of Gastroenterology, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital
    Copenhagen, 2730, Denmark
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Shamali M, Vilmann P, Johansen NR, Konradsen H. Virtual reality intervention to improve quality of care during colonoscopy: a hybrid type 1 randomized controlled trial. Gastrointest Endosc. 2024 Nov;100(5):914-922.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.gie.2024.05.023. Epub 2024 Jun 6. PubMed 38851457 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Mar 2023 to primary completion in Jun 2023, 2 months.

Of 2,720 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Anxiety Disorders, half reached primary completion within 13 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 31. This study's 2 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 2,789 studies reached it within 12 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 30.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jan 20, 2023
First posted
Feb 13, 2023
StartActual
Mar 22, 2023
Primary completionActual
Jun 14, 2023
CompletionActual
Jun 28, 2023
Last update
Jul 3, 2023
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 3, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05723861
Lead sponsor
Herlev and Gentofte Hospital
Responsible party
Mahdi Shamali (Postdoc Researcher, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 13, 2023
Start date
Mar 22, 2023
Primary completion
Jun 14, 2023
Completion
Jun 28, 2023
Last update
Jul 3, 2023

Study contacts

Mahdi Shamali, PhD
principal investigator · Herlev and Gentofte University Hospital
Hanne Konradsen, PhD
principal investigator · Herlev and Gentofte University Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jun 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion