Virtual reality, with its ability to create a simulated environment for the user, is a good choice in the field of telemedicine. Patients and physicians alike welcome anything that increases the chances of success for a treatment process. There is no shortage of specialists and resources in this profession. Health is the only thing that everyone takes seriously, and no one has ever argued that bothering with medical care is a good idea. As VR as well as AR and MR continue to find their place in the mainstream of public awareness, more therapeutic apps are being developed. There is a lot of money to help patients, and this is a good reason for developers and innovators to upgrade the industry's technology .

In addition to video conferencing and visits, virtual reality can transfer users to other locations. Although it has been possible for years to communicate over long distances through video conferencing and other similar technologies, VR has provided a way for people in remote areas to really interact with each other .

In the medical field, "interaction" often means "treatment" or even "surgery." Surgery is a highly specialized skill, and one of the greatest healing tragedies is the loss of human life due to the lack of access to a better surgeon .

Using virtual reality, the best surgeons can treat patients around the world (remote surgery). At the Innovation and Initiative Center for Surgery  (CSii) , Dr. Mehran Anvari is one of the first surgeons to perform surgery using a remote control robot. Although Dr. Anwari has used a computer screen, virtual reality provides an opportunity for these types of surgeries to be more effective. With a head-mounted display  , surgeons can move into operating rooms thousands of miles away and use their natural skills and senses to rescue humans .

Surgical training

One of the areas in which surgeons use virtual reality is training. Numerous universities, including Stanford, are using new technology to teach students and also to improve the skills of their professionals .

The research done in the Standard Salisbury Lab is very interesting. In this study, researchers used touch feedback and even "artificial patients" to help train medical professionals. Their surgical simulation environment includes a physical model of the patient that is connected to a computer simulator via wires and sets of sensors. Participants in the experiment use endoscopic cameras and other modern medical care devices to diagnose and treat this physical model, and can see similar results to the treatment of a real patient in their physical model .

Medical education via VR 

Company Medical Realities ability to use VR to health care and medical education to wide scale. At the beginning of last year, the company broadcast the first virtual reality surgery live on networks around the world, and about 50,000 people watched the event via desktop, phone and Gear VR display . Access to a real surgery procedure has been unprecedented for everyone around the world. Company Medical Realities plans in the coming years for more people to run the program .

The company's next project, Virtual Design, is a set of virtual experiences in which, unlike the first event in which a 360-degree camera was installed on a table next to the surgical procedure, a virtual reality camera is installed on the head of the person performing the surgery. .

Treatment of limb phantom pain

One of the most creative and amazing uses of virtual reality in medical care is the treatment of phantom pain or PLP . Phantom limb pain (Phantom Limb Pain) associated with sensory disorders such as pain, itching and burning sensation in a body part that is cut off or there is. Patients with this syndrome experience very severe and uncontrollable pain .

An article published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience conducted research with the help of a patient with the syndrome. In this study, doctors created a virtual environment in which the patient uses his lost arms to perform simple tasks such as picking up and moving small objects. With the help of myolectric sensors connected to the nerve of the amputated arm, the patient can control the virtual arm like a real arm. In this way, the patient can use his mind to relax the muscles that no longer exist .

This research can be tested with augmented reality in which the patient uses an AR headset to cover the missing limb. Both treatments have been shown to be effective in reducing symptoms and recurrence of PLP . After 10 weeks of treatment, the patient reported a sharp decrease in pain and after the end of the treatment period, the symptoms completely disappeared .

As virtual reality progresses in the world of technology, stunning applications in the field of medical care appear, and medicine is one of the industries that benefits greatly from this advancement .