Virtual reality in telemedicine

Virtual reality (VR) can be considered as the leading edge of a general evo lution of present communication interfaces involving the television, comput er, and telephone. The main characteristic of this evolution is the full im mersion of the human sensorimotor channels into a vivid and global communic ation experience. Because telemedicine principally focuses on transmitting medical information, VR has the potential to enhance this function. Particu larly, VR can be used in telemedicine as an advanced communication interfac e, which enables a more intuitive mode of interacting with information, and as a flexible environment that enhances the feeling of physical presence d uring the interaction. In this article, the state of the art in VR-based te lemedicine applications is described. This technology is now used in remote or augmented surgery as well as surgical training, which are critically de pendent on eye-hand coordination. Recently, however, different researchers have tried to use virtual environments in medical visualization and for ass essment and rehabilitation in neuropsychology. This article also discusses technological, ergonomical, and human factor issues, and specific guideline s are presented for expanding the use of VR in telemedicine.