Trends in the Use of Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality in Surgical Research: a Global Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis

Abstract

There have been many major developments in the use of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) technologies in the context of global surgical research, yet few reports on the trends in this field have been published to date. This study was therefore designed to explore these worldwide trends in this clinically important field. Relevant studies published from 1 January 2009 through 13 October 2020 were retrieved from the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCI-E) tool of the Web of Science database. Bibliometric techniques were then used to analyze the resultant data, with visual bibliographic coupling, co-authorship, co-citation, co-occurrence, and publication trend analyses subsequently being conducted with GraphPad Prism 8 and with the visualization of similarities (VOS) software tool. There is no patient and public involved. In total, 6221 relevant studies were incorporated into this analysis. At a high level, clear global annual increases in the number of publications in this field were observed. The USA made the greatest contributions to this field over the studied period, with the highest H-index value, the most citations, and the greatest total link strength for analyzed publications. The country with the highest number of average citations per publication was Scotland. The Surgical Endoscopy And Other Interventional Techniques journal contributed the greatest number of publications in this field. The University of London was the institution that produced the greatest volume of research in this field. Overall, studies could be broadly classified into five clusters: Neurological Research, Surgical Techniques, Technological Products, Rehabilitative Medicine, and Clinical Therapy. The trends detected in the present analysis suggest that the number of global publications pertaining to the use of AR, VR, and MR techniques in surgical research is likely to increase in the coming years. Particular attention should be paid to emerging trends in related fields including MR, extended reality, head-mounted displays, navigation, and holographic images.

Systematic Bibliometric Analysis of Research Hotspots and Trends on the Application of Virtual Reality in Nursing

“…It demonstrates that developed countries are the driving force in the medical field and virtual reality in nursing research, but some developing countries are also conducting scientific research. This conclusion is comparable to the national document situation in medical research with virtual reality ( 17 – 19 ). The analysis results of the organization show that the United States and Canada have more research in this field, which is consistent with Garrett, Bernard M ( 5 ).…”

Evolution of the digital operating room: the place of video technology in surgery

“…The COVID-19 pandemic made evident the value of online learning in the form of video, telementoring and teleconferences, which are likely to become more prevalent in the coming years with the rise of blended learning, where online resources complement traditional training methods [ 9 ]. There has been an increased interest in augmented/virtual reality [ 10 ], surgical data science and AI analysing operative metrics to improve surgical performance, training and ultimately patient outcomes. Underlying these applications is the prerequisite for big data, which in surgery is achieved through the routine collection and utilisation of operative details [ 10 ].…”

“…There has been an increased interest in augmented/virtual reality [ 10 ], surgical data science and AI analysing operative metrics to improve surgical performance, training and ultimately patient outcomes. Underlying these applications is the prerequisite for big data, which in surgery is achieved through the routine collection and utilisation of operative details [ 10 ]. Nonetheless, many ethical and logistic issues remain obstacles to the uptake of these technologies by health institutions.…”

Applications of Augmented Reality in Neurology: Architectural Model and Guidelines

“…Despite the demonstrated effectiveness and the significance of using AR applications in neurology [16], [18], [21], rare work is observed, which synthesizes the use of AR applications in terms of the scope, the neurological disorders these applications treat, and the impact of using these applications on patients' journey. The existing systematic literature reviews (SLRs) and surveys in the specified field of study are either holistic [96], [97], which generally investigates the applications of AR in various fields or too narrow, which examine the use of AR applications for particular neurological disorders [100] or to support particular stakeholder in order to perform specific tasks [98], [99], [101]. This triggers the need to conduct a study that comprehensively evaluates the use of AR applications in the field of neurology to perform various tasks related to different stakeholders including doctors, healthcare workers, and patients.…”