Virtual Reality as a Surgical Care Package for Patients Undergoing Weight Loss Surgery: A Narrative Review of the Impact of an Emerging Technology

Abstract

While bariatric surgery is regarded as the most effective treatment for people with severe and morbid obesity, its pathway is regarded as a complex one due to the multidisciplinary approaches required from pre-surgery education until long-term management. This is essential to maintain weight loss and improve the quality of life after bariatric surgery. Although these approaches are broadened, patient education, pre-operative preparation, behavioural therapy, rehabilitation, and dietary changes are regarded as the main domains in such complex care. With the increase in technological adaptation in medical services, virtual reality (VR) has shown many benefits that can be utilized in the care of bariatric patients undergoing surgery. However, VR has not been innovated to be a multidomain care package in which bariatric patients could benefit throughout their journey from the pre-operative optimization, recovery, and long-term follow-up. This review aims to give a brief description of some of the applications of VR technology and question whether it has the potential to be considered as a virtual ecosystem to improve the bariatric patients' experience and pathway throughout surgery and follow-up.

Keywords: bariatric surgery; virtual reality; virtual reality exposure therapy; virtual reality simulation; virtual reality-based rehabilitation; vr games; weight loss; weight loss surgery.

Figure 1. PRISMA flow chart for literature search and included studies

PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses; VR: virtual reality.

Figure 2. Elements of ERAS and long-term recommendations for bariatric patients and established virtual reality applications with projection into the virtual ecosystem of bariatric patients

ERAS: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery.