Metaverse applications in healthcare: opportunities and challenges: Metaverse applications in healthcare

This study examines the transformative potential of the Metaverse in healthcare, with a particular focus on identifying its ability to significantly improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. A total of 1226 videos and 55,919 comments were collected from YouTube and 4409 academic papers from January 2020 to April 2024. The data were analyzed by sentiment analysis, network analysis, and cluster analysis to delineate opportunities and challenges involved with Metaverse applications in the healthcare industry. We also interviewed medical experts to ascertain the current status of Metaverse applications and/or future plans in hospitals. The results indicate that Metaverse offers significant value creating opportunities, including enhanced medical training through immersive environments, personalized patient care through virtual experiences, and improved disease diagnosis and treatment through real-time data analysis.