The Metaverse for Healthcare: Trends, Applications, and Future Directions of Digital Therapeutics for Urology

Healthcare metaverse in surgery: scoping review

BACKGROUND

The metaverse is an emerging concept in surgery, with much interest in its highly immersive and interactive virtual environment. Despite the growing interest and importance in healthcare, the metaverse is still very much in its early phase of evolution and adoption in surgery, with debate on its definition and components. This scoping review provides a summary of the evidence and current understanding for the use of the metaverse in surgery.

METHODS

Embase and MEDLINE were searched using scoping review methodology with a systematic search strategy, identifying any study examining the role of the metaverse in surgery without time limitation. After data extraction, a narrative synthesis was conducted to identify the components of the metaverse employed within surgery and the domains in which they were applied.

RESULTS

Of 97 articles found through the initial search, 15 studies were eligible for inclusion. Most of the studies were expert opinion pieces (46.6%), urology was the most common specialty (33.3%), and all studies were published after 2020. Studies were widely heterogeneous in study design and outcomes varied. The surgical metaverse was used across four main domains: education (53%), training (80%), operations (67%), and surgical care (53%).

CONCLUSION

Surgery is rapidly moving towards the age of the metaverse. There is great potential; however, evidence is lacking on its effectiveness and there are risks associated with its implementation. Institutions must learn how to understand and safely adopt the metaverse into their domains of education, training, operations, and surgical care.

Public Perceptions of Male Hormone Levels and Prostate Health: A Text Mining Analysis of South Korean Media and Online Communities

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to identify social perceptions and public concerns related to male hormone levels and prostate cancer. To do so, we analyzed news and community data from Naver, Daum, and Google, the three most active social media platforms in South Korea, to explore how male hormone levels and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) are covered in the media and discussed within online communities.

METHODS

We analyzed three years of data from community discussions and news articles from July 2021 to June 2024. Text mining techniques were used to collect data with the keyword 'male hormone levels' to understand the portrayal of these issues in news and online communities as well as the public's social perceptions and concerns.

RESULTS

The analysis showed that news coverage of 'male hormone levels' initially drew public attention by highlighting information related to celebrities and events while discussion on 'prostate enlargement' largely focused on medical treatments and information. The online community served as a platform where news-triggered issues were rediscussed through personal experiences and opinions, thus influencing public perceptions. However, the community discussions leaned more towards sexual dysfunction rather than prostate enlargement. These findings suggest that while news and online communities shape public awareness in different way, they both contribute to shaping social understanding of male hormone level and BPH.

CONCLUSION

This study highlights the significant roles that news and online communities play in shaping social perceptions of male hormone levels and BPH. However, sensationalism in media coverage may lead to biased information and reinforce false stereotypes. Future studies can be done to incorporate data from diverse cultural contexts and extend the data collection period to further explore shifts in public perceptions and the evolution of social discussions surrounding male hormone levels and BPH.

Exploring Large Language Models and the Metaverse for Urologic Applications: Potential, Challenges, and the Path Forward

The metaverse, a 3-dimensional digital platform that enables users to interact and engage in realistic virtual activities beyond time and space limitations, has garnered significant investment across industries, particularly in healthcare. In the medical field, the metaverse shows promise as a digital therapeutic platform to enhance interaction between medical professionals and patients. Concurrently, generative artificial intelligence, especially large language models, is being integrated into healthcare for applications in data analysis, image recognition, and natural language processing. In urology, large language models (LLMs) support are increasingly used in urology for tasks such as image diagnosis, data processing, patient education, and treatment assistance in order to provide significant support in clinical settings. By combining LLMs with the immersive capabilities of the metaverse, new possibilities emerge to improve urologic treatment in areas that require consistent treatments, habit formation, and long-term management. This paper reviews current research and applications of LLMs in urology, discusses the challenges associated with their use including data quality, bias, security, and ethical issues, and explores the need for regulatory standards. Furthermore, it highlights the potential of a metaverse-based digital platform to improve urologic care and streamline information exchange to maximize the benefits of this integrated approach in future healthcare applications.

Metaverse in surgery - origins and future potential

The metaverse refers to a collective virtual space that combines physical and digital realities to create immersive, interactive environments. This space is powered by technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. In healthcare, the metaverse can offer many applications. Specifically in surgery, potential uses of the metaverse include the possibility of conducting immersive surgical training in a VR or AR setting, and enhancing surgical planning through the adoption of three-dimensional virtual models and simulated procedures. At the intraoperative level, AR-guided surgery can assist the surgeon in real time to increase surgical precision in tumour identification and selective management of vessels. In post-operative care, potential uses of the metaverse include recovery monitoring and patient education. In urology, AR and VR have been widely explored in the past decade, mainly for surgical navigation in prostate and kidney cancer surgery, whereas only anecdotal metaverse experiences have been reported to date, specifically in partial nephrectomy. In the future, further integration of AI will improve the metaverse experience, potentially increasing the possibility of carrying out surgical navigation, data collection and virtual trials within the metaverse. However, challenges concerning data security and regulatory compliance must be addressed before the metaverse can be used to improve patient care.

Serious Games as a Therapeutic Tool in Pediatric Urology: A Review of Current Applications and Future Directions

This paper examines the use of serious games that integrate engaging gameplay with educational and therapeutic benefits with a particular focus on their application in urology. The study reviews both domestic and international cases to evaluate the current practices and implications of these digital therapies. While serious games have been widely utilized in the treatment of pediatric cancer and psychiatric disorders-areas that require long-term care and management-their application in urology, in particular pediatric urology, has been limited. Although digital therapies like serious games are still emerging in the field of urology, they hold promise as effective supplements to traditional treatments while offering new options for managing a range of urological conditions. Pediatric conditions such as bedwetting, urinary incontinence, and dysuria, which often benefit from long-term training and habit formation, are particularly well-suited to this approach. By helping pediatric patients better understand and manage their symptoms, serious games can play a supportive role in the treatment process and have shown positive medical outcomes. This paper reviews the definitions and therapeutic effects of serious games, analyzes their current use in the medical field, and argues for their increased application in treating pediatric urinary conditions.

Factors affecting the adoption of metaverse in healthcare: The moderating role of digital division, and meta-culture

This research aims to find out the factors affecting the adoption of Metaverse in healthcare. This study explores the effect of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and trust on adopting Metaverse in healthcare by keeping digital division and metaculture as moderating variables. The philosophical foundation is rooted in the positivism paradigm, the methodology is quantitative, and the approach used is deductive. Data was collected in Pakistan and China through judgmental sampling from 384 respondents. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the collected data. The findings validate the relationship between perceived ease of use and the adoption of metaverse with β-value 0.236, t-value 5.207 and p-value 0.000, the relationship between perceived usefulness and the adoption of metaverse with β-value 0.233, t-value 4.017 and p-value 0.000, and the relationship between trust and adoption of a metaverse with β-value 0.192, t-value 3.589 and p-value 0.000. Results also show that the digital divide moderates the relation between perceived ease of use and adopting the metaverse having β-value 0.078, t-value 1.848 and p-value 0.032. Similarly, the findings also show that the digital divide does not moderate the relationships of perceived usefulness and trust with adopting the metaverse. Moreover, the meta culture also does not moderate the relationships of perceived ease of use, usefulness, and trust with adopting the metaverse. The study contributes to theoretical research on adopting a metaverse in healthcare by examining various factors necessary for its development. It also provides guidelines for the developers and adopters of suitable metaverse technology.

Emerging Trends in Artificial Intelligence-Based Urological Imaging Technologies and Practical Applications

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into medical imaging has notably expanded its significance within urology. AI applications offer a broad spectrum of utilities in this domain, ranging from precise diagnosis achieved through image segmentation and anomaly detection to improved procedural assistance in biopsies and surgical interventions. Although challenges persist concerning data security, transparency, and integration into existing clinical workflows, extensive research has been conducted on AI-assisted imaging technologies while recognizing their potential to reshape urological practices. This review paper outlines current AI techniques employed for image analysis to offer an overview of the latest technological trends and applications in the field of urology.

Designing Digital Therapeutic Content Using Chronic Disease Data: A Focus on Improving Urinary Dysfunction

In recent years, advancements in information and communication technologies, including artificial intelligence, big data, virtual reality, and augmented reality, have driven substantial growth in the field of digital medical diagnosis and treatment, thereby enhancing quality of life. Beginning in the mid-2010s with the advent of digital healthcare applications, and further accelerated by the impact of coronavirus disease 2019, digital therapeutic products have profoundly influenced society. Nevertheless, the expansion of digital therapeutics has encountered challenges associated with regulatory hurdles, differentiation from general digital healthcare, and the necessity for trustworthiness, which have contributed to a slower rate of progress. This study proposes a 3P content model-encompassing pre-education, prediction/diagnosis/treatment, and postmanagement-to increase the trustworthiness of digital therapeutics. The design of the 3P content model includes a fundamental structure that establishes networks with healthcare institutions, aiming to increase the reliability of data utilization and to facilitate integration with medical decision support systems. For case development, the study introduces a prototype of a mobile application that utilizes chronic disease urinary dysfunction data, demonstrating the cyclical structure inherent in the 3P content model.

Insights Into Korean Public Perspectives on Urology: Online News Data Analytics Through Latent Dirichlet Allocation Topic Modeling

PURPOSE

The objective of the study was to explore how urology-related news, one of the medical specialties profoundly linked to human health and life, is communicated to the public through media outlets that serves as primary sources of medical information for the public.

METHODS

In this study, articles were retrieved using the keyword 'Urology' from the Bigkinds spanning from January 1, 1990 to August 17, 2023. The Beautifulsoup library in Python was utilized for parsing the text to collect both titles and bodies of the articles. The gathered data was then analyzed using the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) algorithm from the scikit-learn library. Additionally, tools such as Wordcloud and Networkx were employed to visualize the relationships and patterns within the data.

RESULTS

The keyword analysis led to the identification of various themes in the articles, with a clear distinction between those providing medical information and those promoting healthcare services, technologies, and products. Notably, the content frequently intertwined informational aspects with promotional ones. Articles on men's health and pet diseases, for example, often combined educational material with product or procedure promotions. This overlap highlights the complexity of categorizing media content into distinct themes. Furthermore, the coverage of health insurance and treatment methods including recent advancements like robotic surgery reflected the evolving nature of healthcare discussions to emphasize the interplay between policy changes, medical advancements, and media portrayal.

CONCLUSION

By identifying 10 distinct topics mentioned in the news, the analysis determined which topics are common in urology-related news coverage. The findings revealed a substantial volume of medical information on urology in the media with a wide range of topics including treatment and prevention of urologic conditions, insurance information, new treatments, and news stories promoting new products or hospitals.