# Extended reality in supporting cancer patients and survivors: A systematic review on the benefits and challenges across the cancer care continuum

## TL;DR

This paper reviews how extended reality (XR) can help cancer patients, especially in reducing anxiety and managing symptoms during treatment and survivorship.

## Contribution

The study systematically evaluates XR's benefits and challenges across the cancer care continuum, highlighting its uneven application.

## Key findings

- XR is most commonly used during treatment for anxiety reduction and symptom management.
- XR application is limited in diagnosis, prevention, and early detection phases.
- Challenges include physical discomfort, technical issues, and user compliance.

## Abstract

•Extended reality is gaining more and more interest in healthcare applications.•XR tools have the potential to improve patient outcomes in cancer care.•XR is commonly used in anxiety and symptoms management.

Extended reality is gaining more and more interest in healthcare applications.

XR tools have the potential to improve patient outcomes in cancer care.

XR is commonly used in anxiety and symptoms management.

Our study explores the role of extended reality (XR) in supporting cancer patients.

A systematic search was conducted across six electronic databases. We adhered to the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) reviews.

We included 62 studies. XR technologies were mainly applied during the treatment phase (64.5% of studies), with additional applications in palliative care and during survivorship (33.9%). One study addressed the diagnosis phase, and none supported prevention or early detection. XR showed effective results supporting patients in seven areas: anxiety and stress reduction (n = 40), pain management (n = 19) and symptom tracking (n = 14). Challenges identified related to physical discomfort, technical issues, and user compliance.

XR interventions demonstrate significant potential in improving patient outcomes, particularly in anxiety reduction and symptom management. However, their application remains unevenly distributed across the cancer care continuum.