Affiliations: Biomedical Imaging Resource, Mayo Clinic/Foundation,
Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Abstract: This personal perspective is an attempt to look at the role and
impact of virtual reality (VR) as related to medicine and medical practice over
the past 10-15 years. A similar treatise was recently published (Robb, 2002) in
much shorter form. This more complete version is still not intended to be, nor
can it be, fully comprehensive and inclusive of all developments or viewpoints.
It is primarily based on the author's experience and opinion. Although such a
review begs for many references to published works, that too is eschewed in the
interest of preserving, for better or worse, the single view of the author in
this article. Only seven references are included which contain copious other
references to much of the material touched upon in this essay. To the extent
that one can learn from history, this synopsis will also fall short, not so
much due to lack of confirming references, but rather because the impact of VR
in medicine has been an evolutionary culmination of digression and progression
that has resulted in some success and useful contributions but also some wasted
time and resources.
Keywords: virtual reality, medical imaging, interactive visualization, procedure validation