State of the Art and Future Prospects of Virtual and Augmented Reality in Veterinary Medicine: A Systematic Review

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Virtual reality and augmented reality are rapidly progressing technologies in different fields, such as the gaming and entertainment industries, military training, professional simulation, education, and medicine. Researchers have evaluated the use of these technologies in human and veterinary medicine. Our goal in this systematic review was to evaluate the articles that used virtual or augmented reality in veterinary medicine, as well as medical articles with animal trials and report published protocols and results. The studies we included in our review reported new diagnostic/therapeutic methods, as well as new educational possibilities for the use of virtual or augmented reality in human or veterinary medicine. These articles mostly focused on assessing different methods, tools (hardware and software), and workflow, in addition to troubleshooting the reported protocols. According to the included articles, the application of these technologies can increase the scientific output of students and residents, reduce training costs, and promote ethical standards. However, we consider the absence of standard protocols for the application of these tools, their time-consuming nature, and their prices as study limitations. ABSTRACT: Virtual reality and augmented reality are new but rapidly expanding topics in medicine. In virtual reality, users are immersed in a three-dimensional environment, whereas in augmented reality, computer-generated images are superimposed on the real world. Despite advances in human medicine, the number of published articles in veterinary medicine is low. These cutting-edge technologies can be used in combination with existing methods in veterinary medicine to achieve diagnostic/therapeutic and educational goals. The purpose of our review was to evaluate studies for their use of virtual reality and augmented reality in veterinary medicine, as well as human medicine with animal trials, to report results and the state of the art. We collected all of the articles we included in our review by screening the Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. Of the 24 included studies, 11 and 13 articles belonged to virtual reality and augmented reality, respectively. Based on these articles, we determined that using these technologies has a positive impact on the scientific output of students and residents, can reduce training costs, and can be used in training/educational programs. Furthermore, using these tools can promote ethical standards. We reported the absence of standard operation protocols and equipment costs as study limitations.