MBAR 2022 4 Eng
MBAR 2022 4 Eng
MBAR 2022 4 Eng
2022; 1:4
doi: 10.56294/mr20224
REVIEW
Carlos Miguel Campos Sánchez1 , Laura Adalys Guillén León1 , Rossio Cristina Acosta Yanes1 , Marcos
Antonio Gil Oloriz2
1
Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Villa Clara. Facultad de Medicina. Villa Clara, Cuba.
2
Universidad Central “Marta Abreu de las Villas”. Facultad de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Telecomunicaciones. Villa Clara, Cuba.
Cite as: Campos Sánchez CM, Guillén León LA, Acosta Yanes RC, Gil Oloriz MA. Metaverso: el futuro de la medicina en un mundo virtual.
Metaverse Bas. App. Res. 2022;1:4. https://doi.org/10.56294/mr20224
ABSTRACT
The metaverse is a virtual space that uses Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence
(AI) capable of recreating a world parallel to reality, in the health sciences the use of technologies during the
last decade has increased dramatically and the benefits for both patients and professionals are countless.
After the implementation of quarantine by COVID-19, social isolation led to the emergence of new tools that
made health sciences become even more involved in this digital world. The applications of the metaverse in
medicine range from data processing, the simulation of environments for the exchange between groups of
patients, to the simulation of surgical procedures, diagnostic and experimental processes and the simulation
of avatars of doctors or nurses capable of advising patients according to their clinical conditions.
RESUMEN
El metaverso es un espacio virtual que utiliza la Realidad Virtual (RV), la Realidad Aumentada (RA) y la
Inteligencia Artificial (IA) capaz de recrear un mundo paralelo a la realidad, en las ciencias de la salud el
uso de las tecnologías durante la última década ha aumentado vertiginosamente y los beneficios tanto para
los pacientes como para los profesionales son incontables. Tras la implementación de la cuarentena por la
COVID-19 el aislamiento social llevo al surgimiento de nuevas herramientas que hicieron que las ciencias de
la salud se inmiscuyeran aún más en este mundo digital. Las aplicaciones del metaverso en la medicina van
desde el procesamiento de datos, la simulación de ambientes para el intercambio entre grupos de pacientes,
hasta la simulación de medios quirúrgicos, procesos diagnósticos, experimentales y la simulación de avatares
de médicos o enfermeras capaces de aconsejar a los pacientes según sus condiciones clínicas.
INTRODUCTION
The basic principle of medical care has been the doctor-patient relationship for a long time, and this
interaction has been considered essential for medicine. After COVID-19 and the worldwide isolation and
quarantine policies implementation, it was demonstrated that health services should not always be in the
patient's presence in the same space and time as the health professional. This is how telemedicine has taken
a significant boom during this time. This new reality triggered a revolutionary acceleration in the adoption
of innovative technologies in all sectors of daily life, from social interactions and entertainment to medical
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Metaverse Basic and Applied Research. 2022; 1:4 2
services.(1,2)
Telemedicine, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have flourished in this unprecedented global
health landscape, opening new horizons in health sciences and, more than ever, uniting it with technological
advances to achieve care optimum for the patient.(3)
This technological advance in the use of virtual reality and augmented reality has reached a colossal point
of splendor “the metaverse”, which has already taken its first steps in different areas of daily life with very
beneficial results for human well-being. The healthcare industry has not lagged in implementing this emerging
technological promise, and its applications in the world today are already unimaginable, as well as its prospects.
The metaverse is nothing more than the virtual representation of the natural world in silico. The term was
first described in the 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. Neal Stephenson described an immersive Internet-
connected virtual universe as an alternate reality for its participants, calling it “the metaverse”.(4) Since the
Internet expansion, the metaverse reference progressively found its place in the technological lexicon that
describes any large-scale virtual environment in the online space that users can be a part of. Simply put, the
metaverse is a three-dimensional (3D) digital environment where AR/VR and artificial intelligence (AI) are
the primary visual providers and where people can engage in social, financial, and other interactions using
personalized digital avatars that mimic experiences of real life. It represents a combination of interconnected
digital spaces that allow its users to participate in activities such as shopping, gaming and attending virtual
events etc.(5)
The metaverse in medical sciences may cover potential applications such as diagnostics, telemedicine,
remote patient care, and monitoring. For example, some of the most important applications are remote
monitoring of patients requiring intensive care, access to data, a better understanding of clinical outcomes
(such as blood sugar and heart rate monitoring), and COVID-19.(6) It also extends to the surgery field, improving
surgical precision and to other medical areas like radiology, mental health and health personnel’s education
and training.(7,8)
Given the vertiginous development of the metaverse in health, it is necessary to search for information
regarding the subject to bring health personnel an update on the main applications of this technology in
medicine and the principles of its operation, including the advantages they offer both for the patient and
professionals. This article aims to identify the metaverse's main applications in the health field.
DEVELOPMENT
The arrival of the metaverse as a reality applicable to dissimilar fields has generated significant societal
debate.(9) Some experts argue that it is just another of the many ways to industrialize the sector and seek
economic benefits.(10) Although it is indeed deniable the high costs of the services, it is also a fact that the
multiple applications generate more significant benefits to the field, including greater precision, less waiting
time, and more comfort for health personnel and patients. These are some of the advantages listed in multiple
studies that will be summarized below.
https://doi.org/10.56294/mr20224
3 Campos Sánchez CM, et al
But it is not all good for ophthalmology. Researchers have also found that choroidal thickness increases
markedly after wearing a virtual reality headset in young adults aged,(18,32,33,34,35), which may be due to the
consequence of fixed viewing distance combined with accommodation induced by convergence in the virtual
environment.(31)
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Metaverse Basic and Applied Research. 2022; 1:4 4
can also be applied to ophthalmology outpatient visits. Using an inbound funnel model, a remote provider (i.e.,
an ophthalmic technician or optometrist) would transmit clinical parameters and photos over a secure network
to the doctor for teleconsultation. General ophthalmology clinics in Hong Kong could maintain 80 % of their
outpatient load during the pandemic.(20) While a tertiary eye care hospital in Singapore reported high specificity
and sensitivity using this method to assess chronic blurred vision. Subspecialties such as oculoplastics,(22)
pediatric ophthalmology, and strabismus have also employed video-based teleconsultation with good feedback
from clinicians and patients.(31)
CONCLUSIONS
With the isolation implementation due to the pandemic, it became necessary to rapidly widen the range
of metaverse applications and implement hundreds of in silico tools in all health branches. In that sense,
it highlights the simulation of surgical means, favorable environments, image processing tools, values and
processes, and health professionals' avatars.
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FINANCING
The authors did not receive funding for the development of this research.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
AUTHORSHIP CONTRIBUTION
Conceptualization: Carlos Miguel Campos Sánchez, Laura Adalys Guillén León.
Formal analysis: Carlos Miguel Campos Sánchez, Marcos Antonio Gil Oloriz.
Research: Carlos Miguel Campos Sánchez, Rosio Cristina Acosta Yanes, Marcos Antonio Gil Oloriz.
Methodology: Carlos Miguel Campos Sánchez, Laura Adalys Guillén León.
Edition - original drafting: Carlos Miguel Campos Sánchez, Laura Adalys Guillén León.
Edition – writing and revision: Carlos Miguel Campos Sánchez, Rosio Cristina Acosta Yanes, Marcos Antonio
Gil Oloriz.
https://doi.org/10.56294/mr20224