Bio-Metaverse: The Inception of New Digital Healthcare

INTRODUCTION

The next generation of internet-Metaverse is a combination of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and ever-increasing connectivity (like 5G networks) to create a more immersive, experimental, and interactive online worlds. The metaverse originated by converging three major technical trends- Telepresence (allowing the virtual presence of people even if they are physically apart), Digital Twinning, and Blockchain (its ability to let create distributed internet).¹ Developing an augmented virtual reality is the main aim of developing Metaverse. The user can stay in their world while also experiencing new things using their devices³.

Bio-metaverse is significantly revolutionizing care and is becoming a critical enabler of change in the healthcare sector. The Covid-19 pandemic had also encouraged health workers and innovators to devise new ways to manage patients outside of the hospitals and remotely².

Metaverse will benefit healthcare professionals to provide more integrated treatment programs and packages, unhindered by the siloed nature of most of the present healthcare systems.¹ Metaverse is a promising technology that will open lucrative opportunities for the healthcare sector. The ability to immediately share information between professionals would allow for quicker identification of the underlying causes of illness. Monitoring patient activity in the metaverse will allow easier tracking of characteristics like compliance, which aids in the diagnosis and treatment of illness.

STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES OF BIO-METAVERSE

Like most technological breakthroughs, the intended implementation of Bio-Metaverse has both its strengths and weaknesses.

APPLICATIONS OF METAVERSE IN HEALTHCARE

1. Virtual Support Groups

Patients isolated due to rare diseases or those who are immunocompromised can engage and connect via metaverse to attend the virtual support groups where they can share their opinions, experiences, and problems with their peers³. Some patients requiring help may not want to reveal their identity for any reason which makes them vulnerable to social anxiety, feeling embarrassed, or concerned about the stigma of their condition, in such cases, virtual support groups will massively help the patients to be anonymous and participate in the sessions⁶.

2. Virtual Hospitals

A virtual hospital can allow doctors and nurses to divide their workload which will decrease patient wait times and increase hospital capacity. This technology can also decrease care costs- patients with minor infections or those who do not require immediate hospitalization can save their money and treatment costs by using virtual hospitals⁷. Telemedicine is another big benefit of virtual hospitals. Telemedicine will allow patients to access medical consultations from anywhere around the world.

3. Virtual Surgical Planning

In modern surgeries, individual features of the patients is more commonly used to design the procedures. A personalized approach and planning of the surgical procedures in advance will benefit both the doctor and the patient as the procedures can be designed in a minutely invasive way with great cost savings and without facing any real-life consequences⁹.

4. Virtual Psychotherapy

Metaverse can be an effective method of treatment of different phobias and other mental health conditions. The patients can be put in uncomfortable conditions to help them overcome their fears and gain confidence by designing a personalized controlled environment. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can also be treated using this technology⁸. The metaverse world can provide an immersive experience as relaxation therapy to deal with various anxieties and stress-related disorders. The pain and discomfort of chronic pains can also be relieved using metaverse by distracting the patient’s focus into the virtual environment⁴.

5. Virtual Preventative Medicine

Patients can be educated using metaverse encouraging them to opt for positive lifestyle choices like quitting smoking, balancing alcohol intake, exercising, and eating healthy. This fully immersive virtual system can be used to demonstrate patients the ill effects of the negative life choices aiming to change their behavior⁸.

HEALTHCARE METAVERSE COMPANIES

With the growing trend of including metaverse in healthcare, many healthcare companies have started investing in building their own metaverse space. “Healthcare City Metaverse” was launched by Aimedis in Feb 2022 at the Arab Health 2022 in which Dr. Javier Mendoza became the first gastroenterologist in the metaverse city. Successful collaborations were made by 8chilli with the global healthcare academy and Apollo hospital to provide them with metaverse technology. At the ACC, 8chilli had also demonstrated a Cardiology solution in metaverse. Metaverse Doctors Alliance (MDA) was also launched by Solve.Care in Dec 2020. Below is the list of the companies who have already launched or are working towards building their bio-metaverse (this could not be an exhausting list, there were other companies that were out of our list)

S. No.	COMPANY NAME	STAGE OF METAVERSE	ADDITIONAL INFORMATION	COUNTRY (HQ)
1.		Launched	11 Dec 21- “Health City”- Aimedis publishes Health Metaverse and soon opens the first clinic in it¹⁰ 3 Feb 22- Aimedis launched Healthcare City Metaverse at Arab Health 2022 in UAE.¹¹ 20 Feb 22- Creating an Avatar for Aimedis Health City¹² 7 Mar 22- Dr. Javier Mendoza- the first gastroenterologist in the metaverse¹³ 1 Apr 22- release of The Aimedis Metaverse Whitepaper 1.0¹⁴	Limburg, Netherlands
2.		Launched	HintVR^TM- 8chili’s metaverse platform¹⁵. 16 Dec 21- 8chili + Global Healthcare Academy (GHA) to provide healthcare training and medical education via metaverse¹⁶ 24 Feb 22- Apollo Hospital + 8chili collaboration¹⁷ 28 Mar 22- Aventyn® + 8chili collaboration¹⁸ 2 Apr 22- 8chili to demonstrate Cardiology solution in metaverse at American College of Cardiology¹⁹	San Francisco, USA
3.		Launched	16 Dec 21- Solve. Care launched MDA²⁰	Korea
4.		Launched	30 Dec 21- 1eco’s metaverse platform “1eco World” is listed on the global virtual asset exchange Bittrex Global ²¹ 25 Mar 22- 1eco limited + Goodoc to expand healthcare services ²²	London, England
5.		Launched	24 Dec 21- XRHealth – Building the Therapeutic Metaverse²³ 5 Jan 22- XRHealth + HTC to offer Virtual Treatment Rooms²⁴ 28 Feb 22- XRHealth secures $10M to expand virtual healthcare treatments in the metaverse²⁵ 14 Mar 22- XRHealth + HTC introduced “Flow Health” and “Focus 3 Health” ²⁶	USA
6.		Launched	26 Jan 22- Epazz introduces affordable metaverse solution for business, government, and healthcare providers²⁷ 2 Feb 22- Epazz DeskFlex will launch Metaverse Virtual Clinics, the next-generation telemedicine for physicians and healthcare facilities²⁸ 7 Apr 22- Epazz reports a 28% increase in revenue and 1168% increase in EBITDA for 2021, fueled by DeskFlex Desk Booking Software that will launch the metaverse virtual office later this year²⁹	Chicago, USA
7.		Launched	Feb 22- HTC unveiled “Viverse” a metaverse ecosystem³⁰ 3 Mar 22- HTC Vive debuts its new metaverse offering with ‘Viverse’³¹ 5 Mar 22- HTC is reportedly building Metaverse phone, expected to release in Apr 2022³² 14 Mar 22- XRHealth + HTC introduced “Flow Health” and “Focus 3 Health” ²⁶	Taiwan
8.		Launched	Feb 22- Cloud DX reveals Extended Reality (XR) division to bring to market Patented Metaverse Application (VITALITI^TM)³³ 7 Apr 22- Cloud DX + Sheridan College – Medical Metaverse R&D.³⁴	New York, USA
9.		Launched	10 Feb 22- iMining launches Metaverse Advisory Group (MAG).³⁵ 24 Mar 22- iMining’s MAG enters into Agreement for First-ever Metaverse Pharmacy with Noman Qureshi.³⁶ 31 Mar 22- iMining’s MAG enters into Agreement for First-ever Hospital Foundation with Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.³⁷	Canada
10.		Launched	24 Feb 22- Infosys launched Infosys Metaverse Foundry³⁸ 12 Apr 22- Infosys opens Living Lab ecosystem in Melbourne³⁹	Bengaluru, India
11.		Launched	6 Apr 22- CG1 solutions launches private beta test for reality hub, a metaverse training system for hospitals⁴⁰	Miami, USA
12.		Launched	23 Mar 22- KVA launched the KVA Mediverse⁴¹	England
13.		Work in progress	15 Aug 21- CEO announced to spend the next year of his work life in the metaverse⁴² 18 Aug 21- Partnership with Spatial (VR/AR collaboration platform) and M2 Studio (VR rendering and animation firm)⁴³	USA
14.		Work in progress	4 Nov 21- Treatment announces its plan to build “Medical Metaverse”⁴⁴	Vancouver, Canada
15.		Work in progress	1 Feb 22- World’s first virtual hospital to treat one million patients a day created by East Yorkshire firm⁴⁵ 10 Mar 22- Occupational health provider Latus Health developing VR hospitals as it eyes opportunities in the metaverse⁴⁶	Melton, UK

CONCLUSION

Metaverse is a rapidly growing immersive technology with significant potential for improving patient care throughout the healthcare spectrum³. It is a powerful concept to use the digitally literate young population to take control of their health care and be rewarded to learn, follow wellness, and educate their mates in a safe social virtual space. The precision capabilities of physicians collaborating throughout the world and utilizing bio-metaverse opens up opportunities to address health professional shortages². Some obstacles will be needed to overcome, concerning people's attitudes of perceiving treatment online or remotely, as it is still considered a backup or second-best option by many¹. Healthcare will set higher expectations for this immersive and unprecedented technology by anticipating these potential pitfalls.

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