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Eva Shelton, MD
Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Job Title
Resident Physician
Academic Rank
Department
Medicine
Authors
Eva Shelton, Aaron Pikcilingis, Chenzhe Cao, Jonathan Letourneau, Haipeng Zhang
Principal Investigator
Haipeng Zhang
Research Category: Digital Health, Imaging, and Informatics
Tags
With rapid advancements in technology and innovation, the opportunities to extend reality are transforming medicine. Extended reality (XR) is the umbrella term that covers virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and other immersive technologies that can merge the physical and virtual worlds. These advancements have been tested in areas from applied 3D imaging to dynamic pain management to training future generations of the healthcare workforce. To our knowledge, there has not been a detailed review of the state of XR work as it applies in medicine. Therefore, in this study we 1) reviewed the literature for previously published works on XR across the nation, 2) identified current projects across Mass General Brigham (MGB) and its affiliated hospitals through database searches and interviews with project leaders, and 3) synthesized our findings to evaluate the trends in the development of XR at MGB. To date we have identified 22 projects and are in the process of interviewing project leaders. On our initial assessment, the scope of clinical applications for XR is broad, including dynamic pain management, mental health, neurological treatment, surgical guidance, customized surgery, and space science. We anticipate identifying more interesting and early-stage projects through interviews.
With rapid advancements in technology and innovation, the opportunities to extend reality are transforming medicine. Extended reality (XR) is the umbrella term for immersive technologies that can merge the physical and virtual worlds. These advancements can be applied in various contexts, from overlaying CT images on patients to guide surgeons’ operations, to alleviating pain in patients, to training future generations of the healthcare workforce. To our knowledge, there has not been a detailed review of the state of XR work as it applies in medicine. Therefore, in this study we 1) searched the web for previously published works on XR across the nation, 2) identified current projects across Mass General Brigham (MGB) and its affiliated hospitals through database searches and interviews with project leaders, and 3) synthesized our findings to evaluate the trends in the development of XR at MGB. We have identified at least 22 projects in different stages of development. The scope of these projects is broad, covering specialties like pain, neurology, surgery, and space science. We anticipate identifying more interesting and early-stage projects through interviews with project leaders and plan to perform a more comprehensive review of our findings afterwards.
