A Study to Evaluate Virtual Reality As Adjunct to Anesthesia During Orthopedic Surgery

Use of Virtual Reality as an Adjunct for Anesthesia During Orthopedic Procedures Under Regional or Central Neuraxial Nerve Block. A Pilot and Feasibility Study

The purpose of this study is to obtain feedback from patients and orthopedic surgeons who agree to use virtual reality (VR ) as an adjunct to standard of care in orthopedic cases under regional or central neuraxial nerve block. This will serve as a preliminary study for future trials to compare outcomes between VR and standard of care vs standard of care only.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥ 18 years old.
• Patients scheduled for orthopedic procedure under regional or central neuraxial nerve block (anterior primary hip arthroplasty or primary knee arthroplasty).
• Subject willing to participate and able to provide informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age < 18 years old.
• History of motion sickness or blindness.
• Unable to consent due to cognitive difficulty.
• Current diagnosis of epilepsy, dementia, or other neurological disease that may prevent use of VR hardware and software.

Sensitivity to flashing light or motion.

• Recent stroke.
• Injury to the eyes, face, neck, or arms that prevents comfortable use of VR hardware or software, or safe use of the hardware (e.g., open wound, sores, or skin rash on face).