Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) Dr Michelle Tennant has been awarded funding for her project aiming to improve radiotherapy treatment for children with cancer.
Dr Tennant received the $500,000 Col Reynolds Fellowship from The Kids' Cancer Project for her study which will test if virtual reality (VR) can help improve the patient experience and decrease the use of general anesthesia in children receiving radiotherapy.
Following on from a previous pilot study involving 30 patients that found VR reduced stress and anxiety during the procedure and helped children calmly receive radiotherapy, Dr Tennant will work with consumers and clinicians to design an improved VR intervention, recruiting 50 child cancer patients to see if the technology can also help reduce the need for sedation.
Image: Dr Michelle Tennan
"Radiotherapy is particularly challenging for children and families. Patients are required to wear masks and remain still and the environment can be overwhelming," Dr Tennant said.
"Children with cancer often require daily general anesthesia over six weeks which is a huge burden on families, and at about $30,000 per patient it is also a significant financial burden on the healthcare system."
The new virtual reality radiotherapy intervention program that will be developed, called RAD-VR, is a promising drug-free intervention to improve distress management, increase treatment completion rates and potentially reduce the use of general anesthetic.
Dr Tennant said, "We will lead research in this area by extending our previous work to now include four- and five- year-olds, where there is the greatest need to reduce sedation, which could dramatically decrease healthcare costs.
Image: Dr Michelle Tennant holding a VR headset
"Our study will use virtual reality to simulate and gamify successful radiotherapy procedures, which involves applying typical elements of game playing such as point scoring and competition.
"This could not only benefit patients psychologically but also be used before treatment to help clinicians decide if an awake radiotherapy treatment is achievable."
Researchers from The Royal Children's Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre will also contribute to the study.
