Metaverse phenomenon and its impact on health: A scoping review
Ali Garavand, Nasim Aslani
Abstract
Metaverse is a hypothesis of the next generation of the Internet, which consists of a decentralized and stable online 3D virtual environment and can be widely used in health. Due to the growth of Metaverse technology in various fields and the importance of using it in health, the present study has been conducted to review and identify the application areas of this emerging technology in the health field. In this scoping review, an electronic search was done via scientific databases such as Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus by combining topic-related keywords without time limits. Two authors independently gathered the data by a data extraction table. Of 46 articles found through the initial search, nine studies were eligible for review inclusion. Most of the studies (55.55%) were published in 2021, and South Korea was the country with the most published studies (44.44%). The main services for using Metaverse include educational services, interventional services, and communication services. Also, medical imaging was the most practical aspect of Metaverse used in healthcare. The use of Metaverse in various healthcare fields is expanding rapidly. It is now used widely in other areas, such as medical interventions and the provision of health services; in medical images, it has many applications due to the fundamental change in the nature and quality of imaging.