Evolution of virtual reality [Medicine]

Abstract

Although original applications in virtual reality (VR) for medicine pertained to the planning of surgeries, efforts have now shifted to the use of data fusion, i.e. to fuse virtual patients onto real patients as a navigational aid in surgery. Eventually, medical care with multiple professionals will be provided in a shared virtual environment that incorporates shared decision making for an actual surgical intervention or a rehearsal. The major applications of virtual reality in surgery can be divided into three areas: virtual humans for training, the fusion of virtual humans with real humans for performing surgery, and virtual telemedicine shared decision environments for training of multiple players. The applications pertaining to the realisation of virtual reality in medicine can be categorised into two areas: generic models and patient specific models.