Augmented Reality In Healthcare: 8 Examples

Alternate realities offer a gazillion of possibilities for healthcare. Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) are not only empty buzzwords in medicine but also valid solutions in education, vein or surgical visualisation, relaxing patients, curing PTSD, speeding up recovery in physical therapy – or even supporting medical presentations. However different these technologies are, they are often mixed up. Here are their most significant differences, and real-life examples of how these extended realities could really make a difference in medicine.

The difference between AR, VR, MR and MX

Augmented reality is the enhancement of the real-world environment in a way (just think of Google Glass). It gives an image of the real world, projecting digital information onto the existing surroundings. Virtual reality is an entirely immersive process with a VR glass that covers the eyes (thus reality) entirely. It shuts out the external world, offering an immersive experience. Mixed reality combines the two. It merges the real world and digital objects into an interactive reality.

Augmented reality differs from its most known “relative”, virtual reality (VR) since the latter creates a 3D world completely detaching the user from reality. There are two respects in which AR is unique: users do not lose touch with reality and it puts information into eyesight as fast as possible. These distinctive features enable AR to become a driving force in the future of medicine.

Augmented reality: the future of healthcare

Augmented reality has had its ups and downs in healthcare. From being one of the most promising digital health technologies at present, the technology today seems to be at a stop, waiting for the next innovation to push it yet another step further.

AR has a place in the future of healthcare. Just read our interview with mixed reality expert, Robert Scoble. But now, let’s see what is already possible today.?

The best examples of augmented reality in medicine and healthcare

1. Augmented reality can save lives by showing how to use a defibrillator

What would you do if a person next to you suddenly collapsed? All kinds of thoughts would rush through your head, and depending on your previous knowledge and training, you would either react calmly or feel lost.

As defibrillators are becoming increasingly available in many parts of the world, some sudden cardiac conditions have improved survival odds. Especially, if people around know how to use such a device. It might be obvious for most medical professionals, but certainly not so for an average citizen.

Enter augmented reality, offering a practical solution. Equipped with smart glasses, this technology walks you through each crucial step, essentially acting as a guiding companion throughout the entire process. Sidenote, let's not forget that the glasses would need to be charged while the defibrillator is patiently waiting in its box.

2.?Using AR glasses to see the remote patient in 3D

Using AR to allow physicians to have a much better view of remote patients is an interesting concept.

Obviously, you would need an AR glass to experience the same vision as shown in the video, but in dermatology, plastic surgery and a few other medical specialties, I could see clear benefits of that.

3.?Patients can describe their symptoms better through augmented reality

Patients often struggle when they have to describe their symptoms to their doctors accurately. In other cases, people frequently find themselves overreacting to a medical situation – or, on the contrary, belittling the problem. Using augmented reality to help patient education or so they can easier explain or show what they feel would be such a long-hanging fruit of AR use that it is hard to believe no such solution exists. I know of two earlier examples, Oculenz and EyeDecide, but sadly both went out of business.

4. Nurses can find veins more easily with augmented reality?

Medtech companies like AccuVein or AimVein are using AR technology to make both nurses’ and patients’ lives easier.

By using augmented reality, the company can help medical professionals get better at drawing blood, using a handheld scanner that projects over the skin and shows nurses and doctors where veins are in the patients’ bodies. Luciano estimates that it’s been used on more than 10 million patients, making finding a vein on the first stick 3.5x more likely. Such technologies could assist healthcare professionals and extend their skills.

5. Motivating runners through zombies

This was such a great idea, and although the original company sadly stopped using AR and shifted its focus to music, let me still explain the concept - as I'm certain something similar will eventually pop up. Imagine that you are walking through a dark and abandoned alley, and you suddenly hear the groaning and the slow movement of a strange creature. I am pretty sure that even the laziest person would speed up after realizing that a “real zombie” is after them. This was the basic concept behind the Zombies, Run! application.

This concept was based on the fact that everything seems to be more fun when turned into a game - and also a bit like that fear can motivate people and zombies are creepy. Such an app would be perfect for those who are bored of running. If you not only hear but also see virtual zombies projected onto your phone or device’s screen, you will not only increase your speed and endurance but also feel that time is just flying by.

6. Medicine packaging and augmented reality: a missed opportunity for pharma

Lengthy descriptions with those tiny letters in endless lines aren’t too inviting–at the same time, it is also important that there is no need to develop additional technology for creating an AR patient experience. Smartphones are practically given, QR codes are easy to make. All it takes is a bit of creativity to make AR in pharma packaging work.

So why have pharmaceutical companies not used the opportunities provided by AR so far?

A small Australian company, Immertia created a prototype AR packaging for Bayer to showcase what is possible with the technology. To create a demo similar to the one below took the team roughly two weeks, creating product descriptions and explanations in English and Spanish, and adding relevant commercials as an extra feature.

7. Augmented reality can assist surgeons in the OR

Augmented and mixed reality could allow surgeons to see the previously unseen details during an operation. Just like in this video from a company called Medivis. They are working on advancing surgical care with augmented reality, Al and computer vision, helping reduce complications and improve patient care.

The incredible development speed of large language models already made me think about how the two technologies could be combined during surgery. Surgeons could interact with the data and images while talking with the multimodal large language model? Amazing potential!

8. Teaching kids about the human body

UK-based Curiscope creates immersive learning experiences in virtual and augmented reality. They developed the Virtuali-tee T-shirt, through which you can see the inner parts of the human body through realistic holograms. Virtuali-tee brings anatomy to life to such a point of illusion which already represents Arthur C. Clarke’s famous third law. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Do you remember what your favourite toy as a kid was? For example, I always had a passion for LEGO. Assembling little LEGO parts into something new, creating castles, cars, and complex cities – that is one of the best activities in the world. It stimulates your fantasy, your creativity and develops your skills for holistic vision as well as your attention to detail. Lately, there have been various videogames that attempt to recreate LEGO in the virtual space – such as Minecraft.

Parents often complain that their kids are just sitting in front of some screens, not learning anything about their environment and themselves, but I do not agree. Minecraft also enhances creativity and develops the way children see the world around them – but in a different way as LEGO.?

I think that from here, it is only one leap before we reach LEGO with AR, where the advantages of building something in the real world might be combined with virtual imagination.

This way, our kids would be able to know that reality is real, but would also be ready to exploit the opportunities AR can provide us with.