Virtual Reality–Guided Meditation for Chronic Pain in Patients With Cancer: Exploratory Analysis of Electroencephalograph Activity (Preprint)
December 7, 2020 Henry Fu, Bernie Garrett, G. Tao et al.
During a virtual reality (VR)-guided meditation session, brain activity changes were detectable via electroencephalograph (EEG) in 10 adults with cancer-related chronic pain. Increased beta and gamma bandwidth power occurred during meditation compared with before and after. Theta and alpha band changes were observed between pre- and post-session resting states. Coherence changes appeared in theta, alpha, and gamma bands among frontal, parietal, and occipital regions. No significant associations were found between pain scores and EEG signal power. The study demonstrates the feasibility of recording EEG during VR-guided meditation and suggests distinct neurophysiological signals are detectable, though these changes were not necessarily linked to pain reduction.