Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, based in Philadelphia, and Las Vegas-based Harvard MedTech are collaborating to research remote virtual reality-based cognitive behavioral therapy in orthopedic patients.
Rothman will leverage Harvard MedTech's VR platform, Vx Therapy, to evaluate the effectiveness of remote behavioral therapy in patients undergoing a variety of surgical procedures, according to an Oct. 19 news release shared with Becker's. The collaborative study was launched in September.
"Addressing underlying psycho-social determinants of health in the surgical window is incredibly difficult and Vx Therapy shows tremendous potential to address this unmet societal need," Alexander Vaccaro, MD, PhD, president of Rothman, said in the release. "It will not exclude patients with underlying and/or concurrent depression and anxiety which has been clearly shown to create deleterious outcomes from a surgical standpoint."