A Pilot Study to Assess the Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy of Virtual Reality for the Treatment of Abdominal Pain in Quiescent Crohn's Disease

The goal of this research is to see if patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and abdominal pain resulting in health-related quality of life deficits despite lack of evidence of active inflammation improve with the use of virtual reality (VR). The use of VR therapy is investigational. You have been asked to take part in this research because you have been identified as an adult with CD with abdominal pain at least weekly despite normal C-reactive protein and fecal calprotectin levels in adult patients, age 18- 70 years old. Demographic information will be gathered (age, sex, race, current medication use, co-morbid conditions), as will prior tests and interventions.

Participants will be asked to participate in the two-week pre-screening evaluation for symptoms through questionnaires. The VR portion of the study will last for 8 weeks. You will be asked to use your headset on a daily basis for at least 30 minutes, but you are free to use the headset as much as you would like. You will be called on a weekly basis.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients with a diagnosis of endoscopically and histologically confirmed CD with evidence of C-reactive protein < 5 mg/dL and fecal calprotectin < 150microg/g who also report any abdominal pain at least weekly will be included.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients will be excluded from the study if they do not have biopsy-proven CD, have a known seizure disorder, if symptoms are thought to represent an organic disorder, those with visual or hearing impairments, if symptoms represent a known pelvic floor disorder, if the patient is using opioids, has significant ongoing psychological distress (HAD score > 11 for either anxiety or depression), or if the patient can not actively participate in the study for any other reason (e.g., inability to understand English as the VR program as an English only).