First domestic experience of VR-intervention in endometriosis
Levakov S.A., Gromova T.A., Titova N.R., Gribkov S.V., Managadze I.J.
Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by the presence of endometriosis-like tissues outside the uterus. This condition may be accompanied by psychosomatic and social discomfort, necessitating further research to understand the various factors that affect its development.
Objective: To present new data on the application of virtual reality (VR) technologies concerning the psychosomatic status of patients with endometriosis and highlight the dynamics of changes in the quality of life of women as a result of this intervention.
Materials and methods: This single-center prospective case series included four female patients diagnosed with endometriosis and/or adenomyosis. This represents the intermediate result of the 4-week VR intervention. The inclusion criteria were age between 18 and 49 years, a confirmed diagnosis of genital endometriosis of various locations through instrumental or histological diagnostic pathways, presence of chronic pelvic pain, absence of extragenital diseases, and consent to participate in the study.
Results: The reduction in anxiety and depression levels, along with decreased pain intensity, was confirmed by the changes in their condition as reported by the patients, coupled with improvements in quality of life observed in the study, indicating the potential for successful integration of virtual reality into multimodal treatment strategies for women with endometriosis.
Conclusion: This is the first domestic study to report the use of a medically supervised VR-solution designed to enhance psycho-emotional status and reduce pain in female patients with chronic pelvic pain associated with endometriosis. We hope that our experience can contribute to further research evaluating the effectiveness of VR-applications in this context and will facilitate comparisons of their effectiveness when combined with standard techniques using exclusively conservative approaches.
Authors' contributions: Levakov S.A. – conception and design of the study; Gromova T.A., Titova N.R., Gribkov S.V., Managadze I.J. – material collecting and analysis, drafting of the manuscript, statistical analysis, editing of the manuscript.
Conflicts of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Funding: There was no funding for this study.
Patient Consent for Publication: All patients provided informed consent for the publication of their data.
Authors' Data Sharing Statement: The data supporting the findings of this study are available upon request from the corresponding author after approval from the principal investigator.
For citation: Levakov S.A., Gromova T.A., Titova N.R., Gribkov S.V., Managadze I.J.
First domestic experience of VR-intervention in endometriosis.
Akusherstvo i Ginekologiya/Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2025; (1): 82-87 (in Russian)
https://dx.doi.org/10.18565/aig.2024.187
Keywords
endometriosis
chronic pelvic pain
psychoemotional status
endometriosis treatment
psychological aspects of endometriosis
VR-interventions
References
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Received 01.08.2024
Accepted 25.12.2024
About the Authors
Sergey A. Levakov, Dr. Med. Sci., Professor, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, N.V. Sklifosovsky ICM, I.M. Sechenov First MSMU, Ministry of Health of Russia (Sechenov University), 119991, Russia, Moscow, Trubetskaya str., 8, bld. 2, +7(495)609-14-00, levakoff@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4591-838XTatyana A. Gromova, PhD, Teaching Assistant at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Faculty of Medicine, I.M. Sechenov First MSMU, Ministry of Health of Russia (Sechenov University), 119991, Russia, Moscow, Trubetskaya str. 8, bld. 2, +7(495)609-14-00, tgromova928@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6104-9842
Nana R. Titova, Deputy Head of the Center for Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain, Head of the Consultative and Diagnostic Department, Clinical Hospital No. 85 of the FMBA of Russia, 115409, Russia, Moscow, Moskvorech'e str., 16, +7(499)782-85-85, titova_nana@mail.ru
Ioanna J. Managadze, Student at the N.V. Sklifosovsky ICM, I.M. Sechenov First MSMU, Ministry of Health of Russia (Sechenov University), 119991, Russia, Moscow, Trubetskaya str., 8, bld. 2, +7(495)609-14-00, ktb1966@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8745-9372
Corresponding author: Sergey A. Levakov, levakoff@yandex.ru
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