Individualized Patient Education Using Virtual Reality to Prepare Families for Solid Tumor Surgery in Pediatric Oncology.
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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Education of pediatric and adolescent patients with cancer and their families, regarding the malignancy, treatment plan, surgical plan, and risk for morbidities, is crucial. Physicians use imaging and drawings as visual aids to educate patients. However, it can be difficult for patients to understand radiological imaging. We aimed to assess the use of three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction using virtual reality (VR) images of each patient's individual tumor to improve the quality of education during preoperative informed consent discussions. METHODS: Patients with pediatric cancers and their parents from two institutions completed pre- and post-test disease-specific surveys after standard teaching and then after visualizing their tumor in VR. Survey questions included Likert scales, knowledge-based, and open-ended questions. The post-test surveys also asked about their experience with VR as an educational modality. RESULTS: Of participating families, 88.5% felt that VR should be used for all pre-surgical consents, with the remainder of participants not answering the question. Likert-scale ratings about VR education and free-text comments were overall positive, and parents did not express distress when viewing the tumor in VR. Although families reported a better understanding of their child's cancer and planned surgery, answers to knowledge questions minimally increased. CONCLUSIONS: Families expressed high satisfaction with the use of VR and thought it should be used for all consent discussions. Answers to knowledge questions minimally improved, which may indicate a high level of understanding prior to VR or question and discussion content disparities. However, families reported feeling an increased understanding and felt that VR provided a positive learning environment.