The Vascular Metaverse: A Horizon Review of Emerging Applications and Future Pathways

This project explores how emerging “metaverse” technologies may interact with the vascular surgical pathway. The review will map current and developing applications in education, simulation, preoperative planning, intraoperative support, postoperative care and long-term chronic disease management. It will also consider implications for workforce training, global collaboration and service delivery. Because the evidence base is early, heterogeneous and spread across several disciplines, a structured narrative horizon review with scoping methods will be used rather than a traditional systematic review. The aim is to produce a vascular-specific roadmap outlining where metaverse technologies may add value, where barriers exist and what research and implementation priorities could look like over the next decade.