Childrens Clinical Investigations Center

Director: Edward D. Gomperts, MD

Emerging Initiative

Wearing head-mounted display units that resemble futuristic helmets, children race virtually down snowy mountains. They lean their bodies left and right, skirting trees and boulders obstructing their course. Welcome to the world of Virtual Reality (VR), where children can get so immersed in playful 3-D environments they become oblivious to pain and the associated distress of invasive medical procedures.

Jeffrey I. Gold, PhD*, recipient of the first Clinical Research Academic Career Development Award from The Saban Research Institute in 2007, is pioneering an exploration of why VR works. Dr. Gold is a member of the Comfort, Pain Management and Palliative Care team in the Department of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine
at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. 

His study, which began this summer, looks at how VR affects the neuro-activity of pain. Utilizing functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)—which shows specific regions of the brain lighting up as mental processes occur— Dr. Gold administers a thermal pain stimulus at random periods in combination with the presence or
absence of VR.

To evaluate the pain-reducing components of VR, he repeats the experiment as subjects play VR games. Because the study triggers pain, it only will enroll adults. If proven safe, it will be repeated with children.  “Children who undergo invasive medical procedures report as much distress as patients with generalized anxiety disorder,” says Dr. Gold. If his research shows that gaming not only reduces activity in brain regions linked to pain perception, but also stimulates those associated with an analgesic effect, the results could make a strong argument for the therapeutic use of Virtual Reality technology in the clinical environment.

Program Focus

The Childrens Clinical Investigation Center (CLIC) supports and advances clinical research at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, along with providing support for the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and the Biostatistics Core at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Initiated in January 2006, CLIC is under the direction of Edward Gomperts, MD, associate director of The Saban Research Institute, with statistical leadership from Fred Dorey, PhD. 

CLIC works to improve the investigative environment at Childrens Hospital by identifying and optimizing existing resources, as well as by providing infrastructure to ensure the success of current investigations and innovative research projects in search of funding. Among the available resources are:

• Core Lab Sample Processing
• Career Development Awards
• Translational Science Symposium
• PowerInsight Database
• Good Clinical Practice