Pilot Study Evaluating the Therapeutic Effects of Passive Exposure Virtual Reality on Pain, Anxiety, Fatigue, and Well-being in Patients With Complex Palliative Care Needs.

The EPURAVAS "Pilot Study Using Augmented and Virtual Reality to Ease Suffering in Palliative Care" study is designed to investigate a non-medication treatment for complex symptoms in palliative care. The purpose is to assess the clinical effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) exposure as a way to relieve the distressing symptoms experienced by individuals receiving specialized palliative care. The study seeks to determine if immersive Passive Exposure Virtual Reality (RVEP) is more effective at providing a significant reduction in pain and anxiety, and a greater overall improvement in well-being and quality of life for patients in complex palliative situations, compared to a control virtual reality approach. In the study, individuals are randomly assigned to one of two groups for a week: * Immersive VR: A headset completely surrounds the user in a calming, computer-generated world, aiming to deeply distract the mind from discomfort. * Control VR: A different headset allows the user to still see the real room while potentially having some virtual elements added. This acts as a comparison to measure the specific benefits of the deep immersion. Participation involves daily 10-minute VR sessions for seven days. Throughout this time, physiological measurements are safely and continuously recorded using the VR headset and a connected watch. This collects objective information on how the body is reacting-things like brain activity, heart rate, and breathing-to scientifically determine the treatment's impact.

NCT Number	NCT07214090
Lead Sponsor	University Hospital, Strasbourg, France
Conditions	Palliative Care
Enrollment	40 participants
Start Date	2025-10-01
Primary Completion	2026-05-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-05-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-10-09