Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Plus Virtual Reality Help Manage Cancer-Related Pain

WEDNESDAY, April 2, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fINRS) can classify pain, and virtual reality (VR) can reduce cancer-related pain, according to a study published online March 15 in Scientific Reports.

Somayeh B. Shafiei, Ph.D., from the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, and colleagues identified brain-based pain biomarkers and classified pain severity in cancer patients using resting-state fNIRS (rs-fNIRS) data and multinomial logistic regression (MLR). Participants included healthy individuals who underwent rs-fNIRS recording without VR (group A), cancer patients who underwent rs-fNIRS recording before and after engaging in the Oceania relaxation VR program (group B), and cancer patients who underwent rs-fNIRS without VR (group C). The FACES Pain Scale-Revised was used to self-report pain severity. fNIRS data were analyzed with MLR and pain was categorized into none/mild (0 to 4), moderate (5 to 7), and severe (8 to 10).

The researchers found that the MLR model classified pain severity in an unseen test group, achieving an accuracy of 74 percent using the leave-one-participant-out technique and repeated across all participants. Pain intensity was significantly reduced with VR, with significant changes seen in brain functional connectivity patterns. Pain reductions exceeding the clinically relevant threshold of 30 percent were achieved by 75.61 percent of patients.

“Our study demonstrates the effect of VR in reducing perceived pain severity among cancer patients, highlighting VR”s potential as a noninvasive tool and nonpharmacological method for pain management,” the authors write. “The significant changes in functional connectivity observed after VR intervention suggest that VR may influence pain perception through modulation of pain-related neural circuits.”

Abstract/Full Text