A survey of augmented and virtual reality wearable displays in medical and surgical applications: architectures, requirements, performance, and benefits

Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) for Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) are finding increased use in many military, enterprise and commercial applications. Within the multi-faceted enterprise category, the number of medical and surgical (Med/Surg) applications are increasing because of the benefits to both patients and medical practitioners. If we examine the current listing of AR/VR devices cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, we see that they fall roughly into five (sometimes overlapping) categories: 1) Non-surgical diagnostics and treatments, 2) Physician and patient training and education, 3) Remote collaboration and telemedicine, 4) Pre-surgical rehearsal and planning, and 5) Real-time surgical assistance. While several commercially available, off-the-shelf HMDs have been cleared for various procedures, there are also a number of custom devices that are finding use in various Med/Surg applications as well. What is clear is that there is a continuum of Med/Surg applications requiring a continuum of technologies. This paper will examine how different medical procedures dictate different display architectures, the benefits being realized, and where further improvements can provide even greater benefits to the patient and medical professional.