Virtual reality for healthcare: A scoping review of commercially available applications for head-mounted displays

Digital Health · 4 authors, 2 centres

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TL;DR

The central finding is that a broad range of apps exists across themes like medical education and rehabilitation, but their usefulness and usability are not yet assessed.

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The analysis found the number of healthcare VR apps has been steadily increasing since 2016, with most running on HTC Vive, Oculus Quest, and Valve Index. The apps were categorized into eight themes: life science education, rehabilitation, public health training, medical training, role-playing as a patient, 3D medical imagery viewing, children's health, and online health communities. Limitations include reliance on app descriptions without testing, exclusion of wellness/fitness apps, and an inability to assess content quality. The review concludes that while commercial healthcare VR is early-stage, end-users can access a broad range of apps, and further research is needed to assess their usefulness and usability.

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systematic_review

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research methods

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ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10259138

Virtual reality for healthcare: A scoping review of commercially available applications for head-mounted displays

Digital Health

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ABSTRACT

Objective This scoping review aimed to describe the scope of commercially available virtual reality (VR) healthcare applications for mainstream head-mounted displays (HMD)s. Methods A search was conducted during late April and early May 2022 over five major VR app stores using “health,” “healthcare,” “medicine,” and “medical” as keywords. Apps were screened based on their title and description sections. Metadata collected included: title, description, release date, price (free or paid), multilingual support, VR app store availability, and HMD support. Results The search yielded 1995 apps, out of which 60 met the inclusion criteria. The analysis showed that the number of healthcare VR apps has been steadily increasing since 2016, but no developer has released more than two apps so far. Most of the reviewed apps can run on HTC Vive, Oculus Quest, and Valve Index. Thirty-four (56.7%) apps had a free version, and 12 (20%) apps were multilingual, i.e., supported languages other than English. The reviewed apps fell into eight major themes: life science education (3D anatomy, physiology and pathology, biochemistry, and genetics); rehabilitation (physical, mental, and phobia therapy); public health training (safety, life-saving skills, and management); medical training (surgical and patient simulators); role-playing as a patient; 3D medical imagery viewing; children's health; and online health communities. Conclusions Although commercial healthcare VR is still in its early phases, end-users can already access a broad range of healthcare VR apps on mainstream HMDs. Further research is needed to assess the usefulness and usability of existing apps.

CITATION EXPORT

Samar Helou, Nour Khalil, Melissa Daou et al.. Virtual reality for healthcare: A scoping review of commercially available applications for head-mounted displays. Digital Health. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076231178619

AUTHORS

4 · 2 CENTRES

Samar Helou, Nour Khalil, Melissa Daou, Elie El Helou

1Global Center for Medical Engineering and Informatics, 13013Osaka University, Suita, Japan
2Faculty of Medicine, 36925Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon