1 INTRODUCTION
The internationally recognized GLOBOCAN 2020 database1shows that in 2020, female breast cancer (BC) will for the first time
overtake lung cancer as the most common cancer in the world and the
leading cause of death in women. Due to the continuous progress of early
screening, surgical treatment, adjuvant therapy and other technologies,
the 5-year survival rate of breast cancer patients reaches
83.2%.2 However, due to surgical trauma,
postoperative radiotherapy and long disease duration, a series of
complications, such as anxiety, depression, pain, sleep disorders, etc.,
are still inevitable, therefore, reducing the complications and
improving the quality of life of breast cancer patients deserve our
attention. Virtual reality (VR) technology is a non-invasive simulation
technology with three-dimensional dynamic views generated in
computer-generated images or environments, and the commonly used devices
are head-mounted displays and headsets3. The commonly
used devices are head-mounted displays and headsets. In recent years,
virtual reality technology has been gradually applied to medical and
healthcare systems due to its ability to provide a multi-sensory,
immersive, interactive, motivational stimulation and feedback
environment that is fun, safe, easy to operate, and easy to
promote.4 It has been gradually applied to medical and
healthcare systems. Currently, there have been several studies applying
VR technology to the symptom management of certain diseases, such as
Parkinson’s disease5 stroke, Alzheimer’s
disease6,7 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD)8 etc., all of which have shown initial success.
With the continuous development of VR, immersive virtual reality (IVR)
is becoming more and more popular in clinical rehabilitation care.
Compared with non-immersive and semi-immersive virtual reality
technologies, IVR mobilizes multi-senses (vision, hearing, smell, touch,
kinesthetic, proprioception) through an immersive experience, immersing
patients in a three-dimensional dynamic The virtual environment in which
the patient has immersed a three-dimensional dynamic view and physical
behavioral interaction is more realistic and more able to mobilize the
autonomy of the experience.5 The IVR can be used in a
variety of ways. Several studies have found that IVR can affect
patients’ cognitive dysfunction9,
pain10, sleep disorders11 and etc.,
but the results have not been harmonized. Currently, the effectiveness
of IVR interventions for breast cancer patients is controversial, and
previous studies12 mainly evaluated the effects of
non-immersive and semi-immersive VR technologies or included class
experimental studies, and a systematic review of IVR for symptom
management in breast cancer patients has not been reported.