Effect of virtual reality on preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing septorhinoplasty

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a virtual reality video on preoperative anxiety, hemodynamic parameters, and patient satisfaction in patients undergoing septorhinoplasty. Methods: This was a prospective, observational cohort trial. Forty patients between the ages of 18-65 who were scheduled for elective septorhinoplasty, with an American Society of Anesthe-siologists (ASA) physical status I-II were included in the study. Patients experienced a 15-minute virtual reality (VR) video via a phone using a VR device. A three-dimensional, 360 degrees video depicted the beauty of nature and was accompanied by meditation music. Patients' oxygen saturation values, heart rate, and blood pressure were monitored and recorded. Using the State-Trait Anx-iety Inventory scale, anxiety scores and hemodynamic parameters were compared before and after VR application. Results: Median anxiety scores decreased significantly from 40.5 to 34 (p < 0.001). VR also had positive effects on hemodynamic parameters. Conclusions: VR reduces preoperative anxiety and has positive effects on hemodynamic param -eters in patients undergoing septorhinoplasty. We anticipate that VR will be increasingly used as a non-pharmacological preoperative approach in the future. (R) 2021 Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).