The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated a series of innovations in the field of healthcare, with a focus on more immersive tools to aid patients and practitioners alike.
At the forefront of these innovations has often been mixed reality (MR) technology, arriving in the form of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) solutions.
Mixed reality solutions can offer greater psychological and physical experiences through immersive real-life simulations within a controlled environment–delivering seemingly limitless potential in the field of health, medicine, and smart technologies.
Already, we’re seeing use cases emerge whereby MR is paving the way for impactful training programs for medical personnel, delivering more engaging learning platforms for patients, improved diagnostics, and the treatment of complex illnesses.
With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at how MR is already making waves in the world of healthcare:
Rapid Advancements in the Accuracy of Surgery
One of the barriers that can impact the accuracy of surgery is that surgeons can often rely on pre-operative patient inner body images and their own skills to conduct a successful operation.
However, computer-guided surgery can help revolutionize how surgery is conducted, and tools like ARGUS are driving this change.
ARGUS seeks to assist surgeons during an operation by displaying real-time pre-operative computer tomography and intra-operative ultrasound data as superimposed 3D images that can be visualized through augmented reality glasses.
Due to its far-reaching potential, ARGUS can be deployed as either an orientation tool for the planning of a surgical operation, or for modifying plans in the theatre if a setback occurs.
Furthermore, ARGUS utilizes an audiovisual connection between surgeons and radiologists for added guidance.
This means a radiologist can engage with an AR image as they provide remote assistance to a surgeon in theatre.
The result of this technology can bring far greater accuracy in operations without having to resort to more invasive procedures.
Next-Generation of Medical Imaging
Medical imaging can also be optimized through mixed reality, and we’re already seeing the successful rollout of AccuVein, an augmented tool that can help visualize the circulatory system of patients, helping to improve vein detection rates by 3.5 times.
The tool can be an asset for preventing injection failure when it comes to delivering intravenous shots to patients.
Furthermore, AR displays in operating rooms can work in tandem with sophisticated algorithms to convert CT imaging into a rich 3D map of structures, which can then be displayed on a nearby screen.
This means that complex models like tumors can be superimposed and projected to deliver a greater level of understanding for medical professionals regarding the complexity of specific medical cases.
Self-Care for Patients
There is a range of self-care applications that utilize mixed reality to aid the everyday lives of patients.
For instance, the AED4EU app helps guide users to defibrillators in public spaces by projecting their precise location on your phone screen using your camera.
Through AED4EU, users can quickly identify the nearest defibrillator in an emergency situation and find themselves presented with a range of options that are color-coordinated by distance – helping them move decisively in finding the right equipment at the right time.
Other health-focused smartphone apps designed to inspire users to become more healthy include Zombies, Run! and Niantic’s title, Pokemon Go – both of which reward the movement of users with more in-game content and items.
As the quality of modern smartphones like the Apple iPhone 14 Max, which features a 48-megapixel front camera and 6GB of RAM, we will see mixed reality applications become more sophisticated and engaging for users–helping to pave the way for greater health improvements.
Clearing the Hurdles of MR in Healthcare
While it’s clear that mixed reality is delivering plenty of new innovations throughout healthcare for patients and practitioners alike, it’s important to consider lingering barriers that will need to be hurdled before its potential is fully realized.
For instance, the implementation costs associated with utilizing such technology today can be too steep for many medical firms and organizations.
In addition to this, the rich augmented data generated for patients presents an even bigger danger should the information fall into the hands of hackers or becomes compromised in the wake of a cyber attack.
Finally, the sheer complexity of MR tools entering the healthcare landscape may be too difficult for many practitioners to effectively adapt to.
Should users be unable to interact with virtual and interactive elements in a fluent manner, it risks resulting in the technology being rendered both expensive and unusable.
In the near future, we’re likely to see reality technology continue to develop while new firms introduce advanced technology into the healthcare scene at more competitive rates.
This will help to make the introduction of MR tools into the sector more widespread, and with improving adoption rates, more healthcare professionals can learn and hone their skills on the machines.
The increased prevalence of MR tools will also see firms working harder on providing better levels of security and firmware to ensure that the data they capture is better protected from cyber attacks.
These advancements in MR technology are likely to take place at a relatively fast pace.
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the evolution of the healthcare industry, and this has paved the way for the swift implementation of potentially life-saving tools.
Should this rate of growth continue, the reality revolution in healthcare could take hold sooner rather than later.