Top Advantages of Augmented Reality in Healthcare

Augmented Reality

The success of any tech innovation depends on its share in various industries and business sectors. Today, multiple technologies are emerging on the horizon. AR is a successful innovation contributing a lot in numerous niches, including healthcare engineering and associated niches like fitness, medicine, and pharmacy.

If you are a part of the vast healthcare industry, the current post may inspire you or provide adequate info regarding the way AR contributes. Therefore, apart from giving some basic ideas regarding the benefits of AR in the healthcare sector, I also have included some valuable references to help startups jump on Augmented Reality Application Development. Let’s explore the top benefits of Augmented Reality in Healthcare.

Augmented Reality Helps Surgeons to Perform Accurate & Low-risk Surgery

Today, healthcare has advanced data access technologies like MRI (Magnetic Resonance Images), CT (Computed Tomography) scans, USG (Ultrasound Graphics), X-rays, and various biochemical tests to determine what is happening inside the body and particular organs or tissues.

Unfortunately, it is creating a heap of data to analyze and remember many concluding remarks on those papers to draw a picture of real situations in the mind of a surgeon or doctor. It is where Augmented Reality helps in emergency and regular surgery cases.

AR (HMD)headsets help the paramedical team or the first responders in an emergency ward overlay 3D images by turning the medical data into virtual reality. Thereby, surgeons can see virtual models of patients’ anatomy, including specific internal organs like veins/arteries, bones, muscles, and even tissues in the brain like delicate organs.

Such augmentation of reality into virtualization helps doctors/surgeons decide where to make cuts and inject the anesthesia or drugs right before performing any actual surgery on the patient. It saves time and risk associated with trial-and-error methods to find the right spots during critical operations.

Before implementing AR headsets, surgeons have to use handheld scanners to locate the major blood vessels around the severe wounds in an emergency ward. Now, AR devices accomplish those tasks automatically and display 3D virtual images of underlying vessels or organs right on top of it with commendable precisions.

Here, AR proved life savior technologies for many prestigious medical hospitals and institutions around the world.

Useful References for Startups:

  • BioFlightVR helps medical trainers help students learn new procedures and products in their specialized fields.
  • EchoPixel: It uses the latest medical data sets to see patients’ specific anatomy in open 3D spaces using AR headsets. It becomes possible through four tracking cameras and a stylus to interact with objects in real-time.
  • Proximie: It is a SaaS product that layers virtual content on a live video stream. Thus, it helps remote surgeons participate in actual surgery by providing virtual assistance to real surgeons.
Augmented Reality Helps Doctors to Diagnose & Describe Symptoms Accurately

Today, doctors heavily rely on various physical and biochemical tests to make an accurate diagnosis instead of relying solely on assumption-based old methods. Sometimes it becomes cumbersome to go through all papers, sheets, and films to reach a precise diagnostic conclusion.

In due course, AR technologies partnered with VR and AI technologies to simulate real-life scenarios right on the patient’s body and precisely overlay on the specific organs under the considerations.

We use USG or ultrasound instruments to get clues of inner body segments. In traditional ways, ultrasonic equipment display results in real-time on the monitor/screen in the lab.

Now, AR enables doctors to use ultrasound equipment right on their tables and see a simulation of the USG screen overlaying on the organ where it performs. Besides the screen, AR technology also enables doctors to see 3D images of inner parts of the organs or body segments to make an accurate diagnosis.

Similarly, AR can describe what happens when your blood pressure touches some high or low points. A patient with people with diabetes can know what damages occurred with the rise of blood sugar levels. Many biochemical tests can turn into a visual image to describe what is going on in a patient’s body.

Furthermore, AR also aids patients in grasping the concept of the disease or injuries through 3D simulations of the affected parts. It saves doctors from wasting a lot of time describing what happens in the body or components to the patients and winning their cooperation during treatments.

Now, they offer a wearable device to the patient and describe everything in real-time simulation regarding the scenario inside the patient’s body.

Useful References for Startups:

  • EyeDecide –It is an application that simulates patient vision and the impacts of certain conditions on it.
  • AccuVein: It helps doctors and nurses to get the accurate simulation of veins in the body part using a handheld scanner. It ultimately aids in fixing veins for IV (Intravenous) injections. It eases the life of patients and nurses both.
  • Atheer: It brings patient data right in the field of view of doctors wearing AiR Glasses, as well as enables doctors to interact with diagnostic data through voice commands, body gestures, and motion tracking devices.
Augmented Reality Aids in Healthcare & Medical Education

Like other education, medical education also requires theory first and later practical practices. Their experimental phase begins with traditional models, manikins/dummies, and cadavers/leftover bodies or parts of training for real-life practice.

Newbies have to learn diagnosis &treatments, and surgeries on real-life patients in their early practices. It puts patients’ health at stake, or patients have to pass through trauma if any mishap occurs during the practice by the junior/immature doctors.

Now, AR has made their learning easy and risk-free. Medicos learn anatomy by using AR headsets, displaying a 3D model of the human skeleton, and wrapped body parts and skins over specific segments.

Along with 3D models of parts and skeletons, AR displays relevant info like zoological/medical names, characteristics, functions, and various attributes of that focused organ/part.

It is possible by sticking a QR code on the real human skeleton or body parts in the laboratory.

3D animations of body functionality help students visualize and interact with those parts for diagnostic and treatments.

Recently, ApoQlar, a German company, has developed virtual surgery intelligent application to help surgeons and students to prepare for surgery before carrying it out in real life.

The app accumulates all data about the patient admitted for the surgery and simulated everything precisely in the virtual model using standard human anatomy data in the industry. Many software provides opportunities to the students to carry virtual operations using fundamental life tools. It helps them to build confidence and give stress-free lessons.

Useful References for Startups:

Apart from ApoQlar, two other innovations in AR, along with AI, can aid students to learn medical lessons accurately and in risk-free ways.

  • ImmersiveTouch: It is a cutting-edge AR & VR solution for education for medical professionals in various streams. It is used in Johns Hopkins, the University of Calgary, and the University of Chicago.
  • Touch Surgery: It is an interactive mobile surgical simulator to provide a step-by-step guide in various operations using sophisticated technologies.
Conclusion:

The Healthcare industry is experiencing a digital transformation through Augmented Reality and other allied technologies like AI and VR. However, AR applications are at the infantile stage in the healthcare sector, but the future is bright for researchers’ rapid adoption and interests.

Suppose you are a startup and looking for Augmented Reality Application Development for your healthcare project. In that case, SysBunny is a perfect destination to obtain the proper guidance and cost-effective AR app development, hitting your desired goals.

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