Preoperative virtual reality video to reduce anxiety in women undergoing office hysteroscopy

Hysteroscopy is the gold standard for diagnosis and treatment of intrauterine pathologies. Traditionally, it is performed under anaesthesia. Today, because of the miniaturization of the instru ments, hysteroscopy, both diagnostic and operative is feasible without anaesthesia in the physician’s office, where it’s possible that the patient can walk in and walk out in less than an hour. The challenge is anxiety faced by women prior to office hysteroscopy (OH) in anticipation of pain. Virtual reality (VR) is a non - pharmacological intervention to reduce pre- operative anxiety, by sensitising patients of the planned surgery and the operating room. This helps in reducing their fear. The VR consists of a video of 4 minutes duration explaining the procedure of OH in general and not specific to any pathology, and care to be taken before and after hysteroscopy.The VR is made with the help of  a UNITY 3D software platform using C# computer language. After experiencing VR, doubts will be clarified by the health care provider and a visual analogue score of anxiety (VAS - A) is noted.  We aim to do an open labelled randomised controlled trial and compare the anxiety rates between both groups of women undergoing office hysteroscopy.