An Exploration of Metaverse Applications in the Health Sector and Their Limitations

Abstract

Since the COVID-19 pandemic an upsurge in technological innovation can be observed and this development is contributing to the building of the metaverse. In congruence with other aspects of life, the health sector has shifted its focus to provide alternatives to normal medical practice by introducing new applications powered by AI, VR, Machine Learning and advanced deep learning techniques to create technology that is accurate, versatile, safe and convenient. This study looks at how current AI powered tools have eased the process of identifying cancer, bone fracture detection, enhancing precision medicine and tele-medicine services. Other medical applications have been developed to assist in decision making processes, treatment planning and management of health institutions. Robot assisted surgeries and remote surgeries have seen vast improvement, namely the use of the Tianji robot and Micro Hand robot. This report further looks at the future scope of health applications in the metaverse, observing that information is distributed, and the human centered design, security and privacy concerns that are presenting challenges. It provides an up-to-date summary of the types of tools currently being used in the health sector and the studies that have been conducted to investigate their performance.