HOUSTON – Jan. 29, 2025 – Dr. Hina Faisal, a Houston Methodist critical care specialist in the Department of Surgery, is exploring how virtual reality (VR) can treat a commonplace intensive care unit (ICU) complication – delirium – by immersing patients in digital environments designed to alleviate this condition.
Faisal’s five-year project, “Cognitive Stimulation Games for Enhancing Attention and Preventing Delirium in Older Surgical Patients with Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial,” is supported by a National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging K76 Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging. Her project aims to engage patients in cognitive stimulation therapy that reduces the incidence of this condition.
Delirium, a sudden and severe confusion often occurring after surgery, affects up to 87% of older adults undergoing major health procedures, and can lead to negative health effects and even death. However, half of all cases are preventable. While non-pharmacological interventions, particularly cognitive stimulation, have shown promise in reducing delirium risk, implementation in hospital settings has proved challenging due to limited resources, time constraints and low engagement from both patients and providers.
Faisal’s project seeks to leverage virtual reality to provide treatment in a more engaging and scalable format. Building on prior studies on the topic, Faisal and her team have already tested VR-based cognitive stimulation games in healthy older adults and low-risk geriatric patients. Their early trials confirmed that the approach is safe, feasible and well-received. A pilot trial will expand this research to high-risk older patients with cognitive impairment and increased vulnerability to postoperative delirium.
Ultimately, this study will assess the safety and feasibility of this potential treatment while evaluating its impact on sustained attention and delirium incidence.
“As the population of older adults continues to grow, the need for effective, scalable interventions to prevent postoperative complications like delirium is more important than ever,” Faisal said. She hopes her research could pave the way for broader adoption of VR-based therapies in hospital settings, offering a new frontier in geriatric care.
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