Introduction
primary brain tumors, anxiety, cancer, toxicities, Cancer
PRIMARY BRAIN TUMORS, ADVERSE EVENTS, CANCER, SECONDARY, CANCER
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) defines psychological distress in cancer patients as a multifactorial unpleasant emotional experience of a psychological, social, and/or spiritual nature which can affect a patient’s ability to effectively cope with their cancer diagnosis, its physical symptoms, treatment-related toxicities, and diagnostic imaging [After patients with primary brain tumors are diagnosed, they typically face an overall poor prognosis with a challenging clinical course and high symptom burden [In clinical practice, the common approach is to refer highly distressed patients to mental health professionals, social workers, and/or chaplains for further evaluation so they can get targeted support to address their psychological needs. One major problem with this strategy is that despite well-intended referrals, less than half of patients elect to utilize these services when offered [The primary aim of this phase 2 trial was to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a VR intervention to target distress and anxiety symptoms in a PBT patient population at the time of clinical evaluation. We hypothesized that (1) the VR intervention would be feasible in this population based on established parameters of eligibility, enrollment, device compliance and adverse events, and completion of PROs assessments, and (2) patients would report high satisfaction with the intervention. There are additional secondary and exploratory aims of this trial (Supplementary Fig. 1), which will be reported elsewhere following trial completion.