Augmented reality (AR) is poised to revolutionize healthcare in the coming years. By overlaying digital information onto the physical environment, AR enables powerful new applications – from physician training and surgical assistance to patient education and engagement.
The global AR in healthcare market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 31.4% to reach $5.1 billion by 2025.[1] Driving this rapid growth is AR‘s ability to enhance understanding, improve outcomes, increase efficiency, and reduce costs across healthcare.
In this article, we explore the current and near-future applications of augmented reality in healthcare and outline why AR adoption is accelerating. Let‘s examine how this innovative technology can redefine medical education, transform surgical procedures, improve patient engagement, and catalyze the next phase of healthcare‘s digital transformation.
The Promise and Potential of Healthcare AR
Augmented reality integrates digital information and media into the user‘s natural field of view. Advanced AR headsets like Microsoft HoloLens allow users to engage with 3D medical models, access data, and collaborate remotely. But AR capabilities are increasingly integrated into everyday devices like smartphones and tablets as well.
For healthcare providers, AR enables the following:
- Visualization of anatomy and pathology in an interactive 3D format for improved understanding
- Enhanced surgical training through immersive simulated procedures
- In-the-moment access to patient data and medical reference materials
- Remote collaboration with other physicians and specialists in real-time
- Increased efficiency and accuracy in clinical diagnoses and treatment decisions
Patients also benefit tremendously from AR‘s capabilities. AR empowers patients to better understand conditions, visualizes complex health data to inform lifestyle changes, increases engagement in recovery and therapy, and enables seamless telehealth consults leveraging 3D anatomy models.
Ultimately AR leads to faster, more accurate interventions and better health outcomes at lower cost. Building an IT infrastructure that supports AR healthcare will require near-term investment – but it promises to drive cost savings as high as $4 billion per year within 15 years.[2]
AR Adoption Trends in Healthcare
Augmented reality technology has been applied in healthcare contexts since the 1990s. However, earlier AR tools were cumbersome and offered limited capabilities. Recent advances in wearables, mobile processors, cloud computing and 3D visualization have made AR far more powerful, affordable and usable – unleashing a wave of innovation.
In 2016, only 5% of health organizations had implemented an AR platform. By 2021, adoption tripled to 15%. And one survey of healthcare executives found that 32% have plans to deploy AR tools within the next two years.[3]
Investment is accelerating as well. Funding for healthcare AR startups has skyrocketed from approximately $100 million in 2015 to over $1 billion by 2021.[4] Major tech firms are also investing heavily in this space – Google recently acquired an AR surgical visualization company, while Microsoft continues advancing its HoloLens headset for complex medical scenarios.
It is clear that while many AR applications remain emergent, adoption is rapidly gaining momentum within healthcare. As costs fall and capabilities rise, AR looks poised to follow growth trajectories similar to telehealth, genomics, health sensors and other once-nascent health technologies. Exponential gains typically follow, transforming diagnostics, care delivery and experiences for both patients and providers.
Key Use Cases and Healthcare AR Applications
Many AR solutions focus on drastically improving how we train medical professionals, deliver patient care and conduct research. Let‘s examine some of the most promising realms of innovation:
Surgical Visualization and Augmented Reality Surgery Assist
Augmented reality is making waves in surgery and interventional care. Surgeons utilizing AR headsets can view patient imaging scans (like ultrasound, CT and MRI) directly overlaid onto the surgical field. Critical anatomy details and measurements are integral to the live environment.
Microsoft HoloLens has been pivotal for advancing AR surgery. Dr. Osamah Choudhry has leveraged HoloLens at UK‘s Imperial College Hospital to perform spinal and vascular surgeries. Visualizing reference scans during surgery with HoloLens led to faster operations, greater precision, and lower radiation exposure because additional X-ray checks became unnecessary.[5]
Surgical AR creates new possibilities for teaching as well. Medical students and residents can literally view through the surgeon‘s eyes with AR video feeds – gaining exposure seldom permitted in crowded operating rooms before.
Looking ahead, surgeons may access AI guidance in-headset. Startups like Augmedics are pioneering these applications by integrating patient scans, surgical plans, instrument GPS tracking and more into their AR surgery ecosystem.
Immersive AR Training Platforms and Simulations
Learning intricate surgical skills or anatomy requires intensive practice. Augmented reality facilitates radically more efficient and engaging medical learning.
AnatomyPark is an award-winning AR application helping students dynamically engage with true-to-life anatomy. Developers PixelMax leveraged Unreal Engine‘s 3D tools to craft stunningly high fidelity organs and landscapes exploring systemic physiology across regions like the head, digestive tract, and cardiovascular system. Learners tablet-based AR application transports them inside a giant beating heart, expanding brain or disease state – grasping spatial relationships and systems thinking far faster than textbooks enable.
Spatial computing enables expediting skills acquisition too. Osso VR, founded by veteran Dr. Justin Barad, uses modified Oculus Rift headsets allowing surgeons to practice full procedures from incision to stitching. Networked capabilities let observers see precisely what the trainee sees – enabling mentors to guide skills development more meaningfully than traditional side-by-side setups allow.
Looking ahead, platforms marrying AR with AI, robotics and IoT sensors will enable continuously adaptive experiential learning – allowing students to progress at their own pace while ensuring competency milestones are met. These technologies lay the foundation for platforms surpassing human mentors for consistency, availability and precision.
Informed and Engaged Patients through AR
Patients stand to benefit tremendously from augmented reality‘s powers. AR makes health data tangible – bringing risk factors to life while demonstrating positive effects from medication adherence or lifestyle changes. Apps like Health Scholar leverage tablets and smartphones to visualize symptoms, unveil internal anatomy via CT/MRI integration, or even emulate surgeries from the patient perspective.
Post-discharge AR engagement apps are also emerging to reinforce recovery. Corti Care uses AR games to motivate stroke patient rehabilitation and home exercise. One game has patients bursting balloons with their weaker limbs, quantifying progress; another helps prevent falls by integrating AR objects into home environments and training navigation safety.[6]
Patient AR engagement has shades of gamification – leveraging competitive elements and rewards to drive participation. These methods could meaningfully accelerate patient ownership in maintaining treatment plans. And reducing hospital readmissions has enormous financial benefit – potentially saving billions in preventable healthcare spending.
AR Telehealth and Remote Medical Care
Augmented reality conferencing platforms like Microsoft HoloLens allow physicians to collaborate across vast distances as though physically side-by-side. Doctors guide remotely located specialists through challenging interventions with two-way, augmented sightlines. In rural areas lacking specialists, AR-enabled guidance prevents unnecessary patient travel while expanding community provider capabilities when talent is scarce.
Consumer AR telehealth apps bring interactive diagnostics directly to homes as well. Health Scholar lets patients use mobile devices to videoconference doctors – sharing visual symptoms far more easily. Rather than awkward selfie images or blurred phone screenshots, Health Scholar leverages AR labeling for users to highlight issue areas directly atop their own bodies. Integration with actual anatomy models advances diagnoses accuracy beyond typical telemedicine limitations.
As 5G networks and AR cloud computing reduce hardware barriers, such virtual care apps promise to make house calls scalable again. Inherently visual specialties like dermatology are leading adoption. But use cases span wound care, post-discharge follow ups, speech therapy, movement disorders and anywhere live visualization aids care quality.
AR Clinical Decision Support
Doctors access invaluable information through augmented windows revealing patient health histories, charts, past procedures and more. Startups like Augmedix equip physicians with Google Glass interfaces linking records, reference databases, and administrative tools without disrupting natural physician-patient facetime.
By the bedside and beyond, such decision support AR bridges information gaps which often undermine care quality. Researchers actually found Google Glass reduced medical uncertainties by 15% – significantly impacting how diagnoses took shape.[7] Extending interfaces to nurses and other providers stands to compound positive effects.
Long term, aggregating multiple data flows into AR ecosystems provides profound potential. Vital signs, allergy alerts, lab integration and environmental inputs converge to reduce cognitive load. Providers gain clarity even in chaotic settings – preventing oversights and expediting lifesaving actions when seconds count most. IBM Watson and other AI partners ingest these exponential data sources – supplying increasingly accurate, real-time guidance alongside human experience.
Overcoming Challenges: Developing Robust Healthcare AR Infrastructure
Despite profound promise, augmented reality faces meaningful barriers to mainstream healthcare implementation. Many powerful applications rely on advanced hardware and connectivity still evolving. And clinical integration requires overcoming structural limitations around interoperability, privacy and regulations.
Hardware constraints significantly shape AR accessibility for now. Powerful headsets like HoloLens remain costly for most hospitals and practices. However, rapid iterative advances continue driving down prices – following the trajectory of most consumer electronics. The latest HoloLens 2 model costs roughly one-third as much as the first edition released just five years prior.
Connectivity is also essential for delivering robust AR capabilities. Complex 3D visualizations require high bandwidth for smooth renderings and multi-user collaboration. 5G rollout promises to be game changing for AR‘s seamless functionality anywhere needed. Additionally, progressive web apps and cloud computing help decentralize processing needs from local devices – enabling rich features on lower-powered hardware via cloud pipelines.
Beyond technical challenges, augmented reality must demonstrate clinical effectiveness and satisfy strict healthcare regulations before finding medical homes. Rigorous validation will determine ideal use cases while combating overhype around early-stage tools. Partnerships bridging technologists and medical experts are instrumental to this translation.
Healthcare‘s final frontier for AR may actually be fostering interconnectivity between systems, apps and devices. Unlike consumer spaces, medical settings demand specialized tookkits interact seamlessly with multi-layered data flows. Otherwise, AR threatens further information siloing rather than synergies. Healthcare IT teams have crucial roles architecting these human-digital interfaces for safety and scalability.
The Outlook for AR: Healthcare‘s Immersive Future
Augmented reality sits right at healthcare‘s intersection of innovation urgency and industry conservatism. Medicine requires novel tools improving practitioner capabilities and patient experiences. However, new solutions also face exceptional scrutiny. For this reason, AR is following a ‘2-steps-forward, 1-step-back‘ adoption march rather than viral expansion.
Yet AR for healthcare still seems destined for exponential transformation similar to genomics, robotics, sensors and telemetry unlocking precision diagnostics. Accenture actually predicts a full $4 billion in global cost savings attributable to AR implementation by 2025 – implying ROIs warranting investment.[8]
Broader consumer AR adoption and iterative hardware advances generate momentum as well. Smart glasses and mobile apps granting everyday augmentation inch towards mainstream viability. In coming years AR capabilities will only grow more powerful, affordable and multifunctional.
Healthcare has a chance to lead innovation waves rather than perpetually play catchup. The health organizations taking plunge today into AR-enabled surgery, education, data visualization and patient engagement will writes the guides for tomorrow‘s standards of care. Augmented reality‘s healthcare transformation is inevitable – progressive providers will shape exactly how it unfolds.
References
- Research and Markets. Global AR in Healthcare Market Size Report. July 2022.
- Accenture. Extended Reality in Health. 2019.
- SKP. Current Applications of Augmented Reality in Healthcare. November 2021.
- BIS Research. Global Augmented and Mixed Reality Market for Healthcare Industry. September 2021.
- Microsoft. New Era of Surgery Enabled by HoloLens 2 Begins. January 2020.
- ABI Research. Virtual Reality Healthcare Applications Leap Forward. July 2018.
- Heitzman et al, Incorporating Augmented Reality in Health Care Education: A Theory-Based Exercise assessing Students’ Perceived Level of Presence. March 2019.
- Accenture. How Extended Reality Promises to Improve Health Outcomes. 2018.
