Randomized Clinical Trial for Comparison Between the Anxiolytic Effect of Virtual Reality Immersion Versus Midazolam Premedication in Patients Undergoing Dacryocystorhinostomy Surgery

Anxiety is a negative emotion characterized by fear, tension, and nervousness. Preoperative anxiety is anxiety due to disease, hospitalization, or scheduled surgery. The most common causes of preoperative anxiety are waiting for surgery, worrying about the operation outcome, being separated from family, anticipating postoperative pain, losing independence, and being afraid of surgery, pain, and death.

Midazolam reduces anxiety by acting on GABAA receptors, resulting in sedation; however, the benefit of midazolam premedication remains debatable, and the drug's side effects include paradoxical reactions, oversedation, reduced blood pressure, and respiratory depression. Regarding this, some clinicians challenge the clinical benefits of benzodiazepine premedication and contend that non-pharmacological treatments alone are sufficient to minimize preoperative anxiety.

Virtual reality is a computer technology that creates the sensation of being immersed in a simulated three-dimensional environment in which the user can interact with the virtual environment. It has also been suggested as a non-pharmaceutical alternative for lowering surgical pain and anxiety.

Dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) is a procedure that circumvents the blocked tear duct and offers an alternate path for the drainage of tears from the eye to the nose and is most effectively performed under a general anesthetic.