Digital Intervention for Symptom Management in Cancer and Opioid Sparing Using Virtual Reality (DISCOVR) Study

Recruiting

Digital Intervention for Symptom Management in Cancer and Opioid Sparing Using Virtual Reality (DISCOVR) - Feasibility, Acceptability, Usability Testing of a Novel Intervention

Who can join

Ages 18 and older · All sexes

Full eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

* age ≥18 years old
* living with active cancer diagnosis (any solid tumor type)
* report chronic cancer pain (≥3 months) with baseline severity moderate-severe (i.e., self-report pain score (SRPS) ≥4/10, where 0=no pain, 10=worst pain)
* prescribed chronic opioid therapies (may be long-acting formulations, short-acting formulations, or both)

Exclusion Criteria:

* history of intractable nausea/vomiting, motion sickness, seizures/epilepsy, and/or cranial structure abnormalities preventing VR headset use
* moderate-severe pain of non-cancer etiology (e.g., chronic lumbago)
* enrolled in another pain study
* unable to complete surveys in English or Spanish.

About the study

Patients living with cancer commonly have chronic pain due to the disease or to cancer treatments. Virtual reality, a new technology that immerses the user in pleasant, diverting, and exciting virtual environments, may lower chronic cancer pain to improve quality of life and complement need for pain medications like opioids. The investigators aim to learn from patients about the experience of cancer pain, develop a virtual reality prototype specific to cancer pain management, and test the feasibility and acceptability of this technology to improve the cancer pain experience.

What is being tested

virtual reality pain therapy (behavioral)

Sponsor: Medstar Health Research Institute · Participants: 25 · Started: Dec 1, 2025

Contact the study team

Hunter Groninger, MD · Phone: 202-877-7445

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT07228377

Locations in the U.S.

District of Columbia

MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington D.C.

Conditions

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.