At RSNA 2015, Dr. Vasileios Moustakas and colleagues from Evangelismos Hospital in Athens, Greece, demonstrated the viability of using virtual reality to remotely view DICOM images and provide an accurate diagnosis.
Inspired by this project, researchers led by Dr. Eduardo Hernandez-Rangel from the University of California, Irvine designed an online, mobile, open-access virtual and augmented reality educational platform containing DICOM images of common radiology cases. They invited medical students, residents, fellows, and radiologists to test the platform at RSNA 2016.
Education provided through the platform led to significant increases in confidence when identifying normal structures (from 5.0 before to 6.2 after use) and abnormalities (from 5.3 before to 6.4 after use). It also boosted correct diagnoses by its users from roughly 64% to 86%. Nearly 98% of participants stated that the virtual and augmented reality platform was effective for radiology education.
"Our motivation was to give the opportunity to anybody interested in the field of radiology to experience the immersive sensation of being in front of a real working station at any time and from any place, with nothing more than a smartphone, a cardboard VR headset, and a willingness to learn," Hernandez-Rangel told AuntMinnie.com.
Interest in the educational platform was highest in younger generations, especially in medical students, he noted.
"With the integration of new technologies into educational models, radiology has the capability to incorporate multidisciplinary teams that generate content to significantly improve the way that students, residents, fellows, and potentially patients themselves understand radiology and what being a radiologist entails," he said.
