How AR/VR is Changing the Healthcare Industry?

AR/VR are immersive technologies that stand apart from all other advanced technologies owing to their unparalleled ability to create interactive and engaging environments with deep emotional connections. AR/VR headsets (with 360-degree views) have the power to transport medical practitioners and patients into fully realized virtual environments. The super-sensory responses created by AR/VR find amazing applications and use cases in the healthcare industry.

From training doctors to perform surgeries and helping them with accurate diagnoses to treating chronic pain and phobias in patients, AR/VR is easing the lives of doctors and patients. AR/VR apps, wearables, and devices also help medical students learn human anatomy without the need for cadavers.

This article explores how AR/VR is changing the paradigm of the healthcare ecosystem with its unlimited potential and competencies.

AR/VR Applications & Use Cases in Healthcare

While augmented reality and virtual reality are used in diverse industries and business sectors, the healthcare industry has emerged as its prime beneficiary. In fact, no other industry has so diverse use cases of AR/VR solutions as in healthcare.

Medical Training

From remote mentorships by senior doctors to observing medical procedures like Suturing via AR/VR wearable, these advanced technologies are improving the learning environment for medical students. AR can create 3D models of organs for enhanced and realistic views or superimpose on-screen notations on a patient’s body. These techniques make it easier for doctors to train the intern medical students.

For example, CAE Healthcare’s Vimedix is a high-fidelity AR/VR simulator that helps medical training in cardiac, lung, abdominal, and OB/GYN ultrasound.

Diagnostics

Blood draws are crucial for diagnostics. AR technology coupled with imaging can project the location of veins onto a patient’s skin. This improves the accuracy of needle insertions and eases blood draws. It also improves diagnostics that are based on MRI and CT scans (AR in radiology) by letting doctors visualize internal structures with AR remotely. This is particularly useful when doctors need a second opinion on diagnostic reports from experts who are distantly located. The remote specialist can use AR to diagnose better.

Research points out the role and effectiveness of VR in the diagnostics of mental issues like phobias, panic disorders, social anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), dementia disorders (DEM), eating disorders (ED), schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and many more.

Wound Care Management

In wound care, augmented reality can help healthcare professionals accurately identify the scale of the wound. Whereas, VR can distract patients from pain due to wound injury and help them control pain. Trainee doctors and surgeons can visualize complex wound care procedures for better reconstructive surgery.

Virtual reality (VR) can fully engage wounded patients in dynamic 3D settings with head-mounted displays. This technology helps manage acute pain, trauma-induced anxiety, and stress. AR/VR can also help with physical rehabilitation exercises for the healing process.

Surgery Practice

Haptic simulators let surgeons practice surgery with the feel of real-life tools. Using the VR headset, surgeons can use surgical tools to emulate a real procedure. Surgeons at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London use Microsoft’s HoloLens AR glasses during reconstructive surgeries. Practice reduces the chances of failures or post-surgery complications.

Chronic Pain Management

Every year millions of patients face extreme pain issues owing to chronic diseases or past injuries. While doctors and pain management departments of hospitals try various therapies, medications, painkillers, TENS technology, etc. the side effects are real. However, VR systems that help patients in dealing with chronic pain have no side effects.

For instance, Chronic lower back pain, characterized as moderate to severe discomfort in the lower back that persists for over three months, is a prevalent condition of chronic pain in the United States. The FDA has approved the utilization of a virtual reality system known as EaseVRx. This innovative system incorporates the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and other behavioral therapy techniques to minimize painful interferences.

These systems create virtual environments that are pleasant like the feel of the patient sitting in a swimming pool or at a stream enjoying the sound of water. Such serene environments soothe the patients and help them produce hormones that relieve pain.

Phobia Therapy

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 19 million Americans suffer from different types of phobias (fears that impair people). Virtual reality exposure therapies have proven to be a successful method of treating various fears, including public speaking, and agoraphobia.

For instance, Virtual reality therapy is used for the treatment of the fear of flying (Acrophobia).

This involves patients wearing VR goggles and sitting in a specially designed chair that replicates the environment of an airplane (same interior & chairs as an actual aircraft). The chair even provides vibrations to simulate takeoff and flight sensations. Remarkably, this virtual experience triggers emotional responses associated with the phobia and helps the therapists to cure it.

Stroke Rehabilitation

Many stroke survivors face challenges in regaining their motor skills. Rehabilitation is a process for addressing the consequences of a stroke. It combines various disciplines to optimize and restore the normal functioning of different body parts. One study published in the National Library of Medicine has found that the use of augmented reality technology in therapy can significantly improve upper limb function in stroke survivors. leading to quicker recovery and shorter rehabilitation periods.

The University of Chester in the United Kingdom has partnered with the Countess of Chester Hospital to use VR headsets to help stroke victims re-learn certain daily tasks or activities.

Robotic-Assisted Surgery

VR-enabled 3D map of lungs enables surgeons to locate tumors precisely before initiating the surgical intervention. VR improves the visualization of blood vessels and airways, improving the efficacy of surgical procedures. AR/VR in robotic-assisted surgery is yielding promising results.

Such surgeries are known for their faster processes and satisfactory post-surgery outcomes, including recovery. Surgeons involved in AR-based robotic surgeries are optimistic about the future of such procedures and anticipate that AR will further reduce complications.

Autism Therapy

VR and AR technologies in healthcare are a boon for people with autism. AR/VR creates a secure and controlled environment for practicing social interactions, conversations, personal hygiene, and even activities like cooking. These technologies can also be personalized for tailored visual cue exercises, prompts, and tasks. AR/VR-based games and activities can help improve cognitive functions and problem-solving skills. AR/VR applications assist in teaching emotion recognition and appropriate emotional responses.

Eating Disorders Treatment

Eating disorders are the cause of various ailments that may lead to mortality. However, still, these are not taken very seriously. The reason is that they do not cause an immediate alarm. But these are very serious issues. Eating disorders are mental ailments that may lead to issues like fatty liver, high cholesterol levels, blockage in arteries, and many other serious problems.AR/VR can help treat these eating disorder issues through programs like virtual kitchens where patients participate in controlled eating (healthy eating, small portions, regular meals). AR/VR can also be for providing relaxation to patients with mindfulness activities.

Addiction Treatment

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are emerging as promising technologies for addiction treatment like those of smoking, and drug abuse. For instance, there are virtual environments that replicate craving situations for addicts. The therapist can create such situations to understand how addicts react to these situations and then create programs that modify the behavior (Cue exposure therapy). These environments can create exposure but are safe and do not have the actual side effects of drugs. VR has shown efficacy in reducing substance use and cravings in several studies, particularly for nicotine addiction.

Patient Self-Care

The biggest issue in patient self-care is non-adherence to timely medication. AR apps can show patients how particular medicines work in their body, their processes, and what they do. This improves medication adherence. Also, Wearable AR devices can track real-time patient movement and vitals (blood pressure, oxygen, etc.) and send reports to doctors for remote monitoring. In this way, the doctor will initiate prompt action when they detect any abnormality.

Medical Imaging

Radiology professionals use AR/VR to create visual representations of patient anatomy. Virtual reality applications interact with images and help doctors, radiologists, and medical trainees view them from multiple angles.

Imagine doctors using special computer programs in the operating room. These programs take CT scan pictures and turn them into 3D maps of the inside of a patient's body. This map shows different parts of the body based on how dense they are.

Depending on what the surgery needs, doctors can see this map in different ways:

• On a screen nearby
• Through special glasses they wear
• Projected right onto the patient's body

Before making any cuts, doctors can use this map to plan the surgery. It's like drawing on the patient, but without actually touching them. This technology helps doctors see inside the body without actually opening it up first, making surgeries safer and more precise.

Pregnancy and Prenatal Care

Virtual Reality (VR) has numerous applications in the field of pregnancy.

Monitoring fetal growth: Healthcare professionals can utilize VR technology to observe the growth and positioning of the baby inside the mother's womb.

Training medical practitioners: VR is instrumental in training healthcare providers on performing ultrasounds and specific surgical procedures.

Assisting expectant mothers during pregnancy and childbirth: VR is predominantly employed to ease anxiety and manage pain in pregnant women during labor. During labor, a mother's blood pressure and heart rate increase. Pain-induced worry can exacerbate these symptoms. VR offers a simulated environment that serves as a distraction from pain, providing a non-medicinal option for pain relief. This is particularly significant as heightened anxiety levels can intensify labor pain and potentially lead to postpartum depression.

The School of Nursing & Midwifery at UON has partnered with the University's Innovation Team to create a virtual reality (VR) delivery room environment to train midwifery students in emergency neonatal resuscitation.

Vision Impairment

VR technology assists Individuals with visual impairments. Visual impairments can be due to various ailments including refractive errors, diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachment, cataracts, glaucoma, retinopathy of prematurity, and Stargardt's disease. VR applications utilize voice descriptions to provide information about the surrounding environment. These apps also add sounds to enhance comprehension (description of the surroundings). For low-vision patients, the AR apps can augment textual descriptions with larger font sizes, helping those visually impaired students who want to read educational material.

Mental Health Treatment

Mental health treatment is a prominent use case of AR/VR. Silent diseases (mental issues) like PTSD, phobias, depression, etc. need therapies and therapeutic attention for treatment. This is where the AR/VR can assist therapists in creating visual and auditory experiences that are intended to promote mental health. Studies show a 90% success rate when cognitive behavior therapies are combined with AR/VR. Social anxiety and panic situations can be treated using VR-created environments like calming music, serene landscapes, and beautiful sceneries (scenarios that soothe the mind).

Mental trauma if accompanied by chronic pain can be very painful. VR sets like Apple’s Vision Pro Headset, PsyTech VR, XR Virtual reality, etc. are proving to be path-breaking when it comes to morale boosting and pain relieving for mental patients.

Omer Liran, Co-director of the Virtual Medicine Program at Cedars Sinai Hospital says, ‘’Currently we need to get FDA’s approval each time when we update a VR app that is intended for psychiatrist work, I would like this to change.”

The World Economic Forum report states that the metaverse has great potential to address pressing public health issues with its transformative virtual space.

Reconstructing 3D Body

New VR technology is making liver surgery easier and safer. Doctors now have special tools that create 3D pictures of a patient's body during surgery. Computer-aided design technology turns these images into 3D models. Doctors use machines like ultrasound, CT scans, or MRI to take images of the patient's internal organs.

Then AR turns the image outcomes into augmented 3D models to make it easier for doctors to find tumors or other disorders in the liver, blood vessels, and other organs. This new way of seeing inside the body helps doctors do liver surgery more safely and precisely. It's like giving them a detailed map of the patient's insides to guide them during the operation.

AR/VR Haptics

AR/VR Haptics add the touch and feel element to the already fascinating immersive powers of virtual and augmented realities. These touch sensations create a feel of realism in virtual simulations. In healthcare it makes doctors touch and sense the texture, shape, and movement of organs in simulated environments. Such an approach increases the efficacies of surgical training.

AR and VR in Telehealth and Telemedicine

In our digital world, AR and VR technologies are revolutionizing telehealth by offering visual advantages beyond standard video calls. These technologies, combined with AI-powered computer vision, elevate virtual healthcare communication and overcome challenges in diagnosis, remote surgeries, and patient management.

Key AR/VR applications in Telemedicine:

• Cross-functional collaboration: Real-time consultation among specialists across locations.
• Remote surgery and care: Performing complex procedures remotely, improving healthcare accessibility.
• Professional training: Immersive, safe learning environments with personalized feedback.
• Patient education: Interactive visualizations of health conditions and treatments.
• Post-surgery care: Real-time monitoring and AR-guided rehabilitation.
• Mental health treatment: VR-based therapies for stress, anxiety, and trauma management.

Future of AR and VR in Healthcare

As referenced in this article, multiple research studies show how virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can effectively change the face of healthcare delivery, training, and treatment outcomes. These advanced technologies can also decrease medical mistakes caused by unskilled healthcare professionals. The assimilation of virtual reality (VR) in the field of mental health treatment paves the way for stigma-free and innovative therapies that are more effective.

VR in healthcare also raises the bar for quality treatment and enhances the patient-doctor bond.

These technologies are at the forefront of the transition of healthcare from traditional models to newer patient-centric models. Whether it is about enhancing the quality of diagnosis, providing assistance for high-precision surgeries, or providing patients with highly engaging and immersive treatment models, AR/VR stands out as the futuristic technologies gaining momentum in the healthcare industry.

AR and VR Market in Healthcare

The global virtual reality (VR) in healthcare market is projected to grow from USD 4.18 billion in 2024 to USD 38.46 billion by 2032, (a whopping 32% CAGR). The global AR market is not very behind and is expected to surge at a CAGR of 26.3% during the same period. The rising number of AR/VR startups is a testimony to the potential that these immersive technologies have in healthcare.

North America and the European Union, both are top markets for AR/VR in healthcare. Companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Siemens, Proven Reality, VR coupled with consumer-grade wearables like headsets, goggles, fitness bands, and fitness rings will promote further development for VR in the healthcare industry.

AR/VR presents a great opportunity for medical establishments, healthcare start-ups, healthcare industry leaders, hospitals, and VR tech companies. In collaboration with AR/VR healthcare solutions providers, these entities can scale their businesses to newer limits.

Conclusion

As the global healthcare ecosystems are constantly looking for newer ways to improve treatment outcomes and patient experiences, augmented reality and virtual reality display infinite potential. The technologies that may primarily appear to be made for the entertainment industry are now finding their robust applications in healthcare and patient care.

When it comes to doctor training and preoperative planning or patient treatment in risk-free environments, AR/VR provides concrete solutions for such enablement. We can expect to see more personalized and immersive patient care experiences, advanced telemedicine applications, and improved diagnostic accuracy through AI-powered AR/VR tools.

So, where’s the limit? The obvious next step is to complete surgical processes with AR/VR tech and robotic assistance.

If you want to transform your healthcare business with innovative and advanced AR/VR solutions, contact the X-Byte team for consultation. X-Byte is among the top industry leaders that provide immersive, interactive, and cutting-edge AR VR App Development Solutions for the healthcare industry.

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