Augmented Reality in Medicine: Systematic and Bibliographic Review

Abstract

Background Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that integrates digital information into the user’s real-world environment. It offers a new approach for treatments and education in medicine. AR aids in surgery planning and patient treatment and helps explain complex medical situations to patients and their relatives. Objective This systematic and bibliographic review offers an overview of the development of apps in AR with a medical use case from March 2012 to June 2017. This work can aid as a guide to the literature and categorizes the publications in the field of AR research. Methods From March 2012 to June 2017, a total of 1309 publications from PubMed and Scopus databases were manually analyzed and categorized based on a predefined taxonomy. Of the total, 340 duplicates were removed and 631 publications were excluded due to incorrect classification or unavailable technical data. The remaining 338 publications were original research studies on AR. An assessment of the maturity of the projects was conducted on these publications by using the technology readiness level. To provide a comprehensive process of inclusion and exclusion, the authors adopted the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Results The results showed an increasing trend in the number of publications on AR in medicine. There were no relevant clinical trials on the effect of AR in medicine. Domains that used display technologies seemed to be researched more than other medical fields. The technology readiness level showed that AR technology is following a rough bell curve from levels 4 to 7. Current AR technology is more often applied to treatment scenarios than training scenarios. Conclusions This work discusses the applicability and future development of augmented- and mixed-reality technologies such as wearable computers and AR devices. It offers an overview of current technology and a base for researchers interested in developing AR apps in medicine. The field of AR is well researched, and there is a positive trend in its application, but its use is still in the early stages in the field of medicine and it is not widely adopted in clinical practice. Clinical studies proving the effectiveness of applied AR technologies are still lacking.

Fusion of augmented reality imaging with the endoscopic view for endonasal skull base surgery; a novel application for surgical navigation based on intraoperative cone beam computed tomography and optical tracking

“…In this way, sub-surface structures can be visualized and a pointer tool is not needed [20][21][22]. AR navigation systems have been successfully applied in several surgical fields, including microsurgery and spine surgery [23][24][25][26].…”

Performance and Usability of Smartglasses for Augmented Reality in Precision Livestock Farming Operations

“…In recent years, AR technology and SG devices are being increasingly tested, especially in professional contexts, such as the industrial [12,13], medical [14], educational and research sectors and many others like the agricultural sector [15][16][17], besides the SG producer companies, are more focused in developing solutions primarily for manufacturing and engineering field [18][19][20]. Interestingly, however, one of first widespread AR results was in the entertainment field with Pokemon Go smartphone application [21].…”

Overview of the holographic-guided cardiovascular interventions and training – a perspective

“…Nowadays medical doctors, in particular, surgeons are preparing to refine medical practices to reduce the human error factor [1]. Immersive technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) introduce a new quality in fields of health-care delivery and education in medicine [2].…”