A review of the latest information on the implementation of virtual reality for medical applications including: educational, intraoperative, diagnostic, rehabilitation and therapeutic applications with a consideration of selected reports on Apple Vision Pro

The article is a systematic review of the latest information on the intensive development of virtual reality (VR) applications in various fields of medicine. The paper analyses in detail the impact of virtual reality on the user, taking into account both the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the limitations of the above technology. The aim of the study was to analyse and discuss the available information from the scientific literature on the use of virtual reality in education, intraoperative, diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitation applications. It summarises and discusses the potential directions of VR development in correlation with the discussed aspects of the medical area.

A systematic review of the literature was performed using the databases: PubMed, Elsevier, and Google Scholar. The following keywords were used: “virtual reality”, “medicine”, “medical education”, “medical technology”, “virtual reality in medical training and education”, “virtual reality in diagnostic imaging and application in medical procedures”, “virtual reality in rehabilitation”, “intraoperative use of virtual reality”, “Apple Vision Pro in medical operations”, “virtual reality autism”, “virtual reality phobias”, “virtual reality PTSD”, “virtual reality pain”, “virtual reality and therapy”.

A total of 1150 items were searched, and after removing duplicate items, applying exclusion criteria and filters such as clinical trial, meta-analysis, randomised control trial, systematic review, 320 articles were selected. After analysis, 121 articles were assessed for eligibility. Focusing on the characteristics of the materials and methods used and the results obtained and conclusions contained in each article, 101 research articles, reviews and meta-analyses were included in the study.

Virtual reality, despite current limitations, is a dynamically developing field that finds more and more applications in medicine, including technology and medical education. With further development, the above implementations will inevitably be improved and tested, which leads to the conclusion that further discoveries can be expected confirming their potential in education and diagnostic and therapeutic processes.