David Byun, MD

Enhancing the Patient Experience and Reducing Anxiety Using Augmented Reality

David Byun, MD, leads a team at NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center that is exploring whether using an augmented reality platform during consultation visits can increase patient knowledge about radiation therapy, reduce anxiety, and improve the quality of their overall treatment experience. The beginning of treatment is a stressful time for patients recently diagnosed with cancer. Efforts to understand how to help alleviate this stress show that patients want better communication about treatment logistics, potential side-effects and predicted outcomes, and they would prefer to receive the information using tools they can see, touch or interact with.

Dr. Byun and his team are developing the CurieUx (Curietherapy User eXperience) augmented reality patient education platform to improve communication with patients preparing for radiation therapy and help reduce their stress and anxiety. The CurieUx platform includes a novel interactive 3-D hologram to enhance physicians’ verbal explanations of diagnosis and treatment by allowing patients to visualize models of disease-specific anatomy, the linear accelerator used in radiation therapy and positioning during treatment.

With support from ROI, Dr. Byun and his team:

• Developed the CurieUx augmented reality patient education platform.
• Assessed the feasibility of incorporating CurieUx into consultation for radiation therapy.
• Conducted a prospective study to determine if patient anxiety levels are reduced and treatment-related knowledge improved when AR headsets are used during consultation visits.

Dr. Byun and his team are establishing the benefits of using immersive multimedia during consultation for radiation therapy to improve communication and decrease anxiety for patients. Their studies to date are promising, and Dr. Byun’s team is working to optimize the CurieUx platform to make it more readily accessible to physicians and patients.

Presentations

• Curietherapy User eXperience Pilot Study: A Novel Augmented Reality Educational Tool During Radiation Oncology Consultation for Patients with Breast Cancer was presented at the 2023 ASTRO Annual Meeting. 
• Understanding Treatment Anxiety and Utility of Mixed Media Educational Tools in Radiation Oncology Consultation: A Qualitative Study was presented at the 2023 ASTRO Annual Meeting.