Design and development of asymmetric VR environment supporting collaborative interaction of physicians and patients with MRI data

Emerging Virtual Reality (VR) technology holds the promise of revolutionizing how patients and medical professionals interact with medical imaging data, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. However, to reach its full potential, the design of such systems must be thoroughly investigated and properly designed to cater to a diverse group of users. Consequently, this paper presents the design and development of a system aimed at leveraging VR to enhance patient understanding and facilitate shared decision-making in healthcare contexts. Our VR system enables real-time, immersive exploration of 2D and 3D MRI scans in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format, letting clinicians intuitively load, view, and manipulate complex diagnostic data beyond the constraints of flat-screen tools. A key design feature is the system's allowance for "asymmetric" collaboration-one user on a screen and another in VR viewing/manipulating 2D and 3D information synchronized in real-time. This asymmetric approach has potential to optimize user experience for clinical applications, ensuring flexibility and seamless coordination among physicians, patients, and caregivers, ultimately fostering more informed decision-making.