Virtual reality may ease short-term pain and anxiety in patients with cancer

Virtual reality (VR) may help patients with cancer experience less pain and anxiety in the short term, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Healthcare and Rehabilitation.

Cancer-related pain and anxiety are common, distressing, and often difficult to manage. “Pain may make cancer treatment more challenging, while anxiety can make procedures and symptoms feel more overwhelming,” explains lead author Jiaojaio Zhang, a doctoral candidate at the School of Nursing, Fudan University. “VR can offer an immersive environment that may help patients shift attention away from pain or fear during treatment and care.”

The research team searched nine databases and included 13 trials involving 969 patients from eight countries. “VR was associated with reduced pain compared with control conditions across 12 studies, and it was also associated with reduced anxiety in seven studies.”

The findings suggest that VR may be particularly useful during medical procedures and among pediatric patients, where effects were more consistent. However, the researchers cautioned that the current evidence is not definitive, as many studies had methodological limitations, VR interventions varied widely, and adverse events were not reported consistently. “Larger and better-designed trials are needed to understand which patients benefit most, how VR should be delivered, and how safe and acceptable it is in routine care,” Zhang says.

The researchers concluded that VR should be considered a supportive strategy rather than a replacement for established pain and anxiety management. “Future studies should test standardized VR protocols, monitor adverse events, compare VR with other active distraction methods, and investigate how immersive experiences influence attention, emotion, and symptom perception<” Zhang adds.

Contact the author: 

Tingting Cai, School of Nursing, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. Email: caitingtingguo@163.com

Funder:

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 72504060) and the Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science Project of China (grant number 23YJC630002).

Conflict of interest:

Changrong Yuan is an editorial board member of Healthcare and Rehabilitation but was not involved in the journal's review or decisions related to this manuscript. The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

See the article:

Zhang JJ, Chen Y, Duan YW, Sun Q, Cai TT, Yuan CR. The effects of virtual reality on cancer-related pain and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Healthc Rehabil. 2026;2(2):100081. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hcr.2026.100081 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hcr.2026.100081