Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are redefining whats possible in healthcare, as well as other sectors. The 18 companies listed below are some of the top virtual and augmented reality companies in the medical industry.

Defining Augmented Reality

Augmentedreality is a technology that blends real-world elements with virtual ones. Forexample, a person might visit a trade show and aim their smartphone at adisplay to activate an AR experience that allows them to see acomputer-generated version of a product.

Thisapproach is particularly useful for getting people excited about prototypes orhelping them understand the potential of any item not yet finalized.

AR vs. VR: Whats The Difference?

Virtual reality is another buzz-worthy technology that continues to capture attention and fascinate people in the medical sector and outside of it. Although VR and AR have some similarities, theyre not the same.

Bothtechnologies typically respond to real-time changes, such as how a personmoves. Thus, the technologies need extremely low latency to work seamlessly forusers. Additionally, VR and AR seek to give people experiences that are notpossible to achieve quickly in the real world alone. For example, homefurnishing brand IKEA offered an AR app that allowed people to place virtualpieces in their homes to check dimensions.

However,whereas AR incorporates some versions of the actual environment into itsresults, VR aims to give people a completely immersive experience that beginsonce they strap on the required headsets. A person engaging with a VRexperience will see everything happening inside the headset, but the ARexperience happens by enhancing things within an individuals environment.

Another difference between VR and AR is that the latter arguably has a wider variety of possible applications in other industries, such as manufacturing. Its not practical for people who are working on a factory floor to all don VR headsets. However, they may use far less cumbersome AR-enabled glasses, goggles, or screens to assist with a broad assortment of tasks ranging from quality assurance to assembly.

The Potential, Benefits and Use Cases for AR and VR in Healthcare

Ananalysis from MarketsandMarkets profiled the expected growth of AR and VR in healthcarefrom 2017-2025. The company anticipates a combined annual growth rate of30.7%duringthe timeframe studied.

Theresplenty of potential for VR and AR in healthcare, but how might people use it,specifically?Surgical planning could become easier. Even the mostexperienced surgeons sometimes encounter surprises when operating on patients,but these high-tech solutions may make those instances less common.

Researchershave investigated using VR to educate patientsbeforetheir surgeries, too. For example, a person can see a digitized version oftheir brain, along with the problem a surgeon needs to fix and how they will doit.

Beyond teaching patients about the procedures they need, VR and AR can help surgeons plan their interventions, making them less likely to encounter surprises or feel unprepared. Some technologies show digital information appearing on top of a patients body in real-time.

Also,these technologies could improve training in medical school. Researchers atJohns Hopkins University embarked on an AR project that could see medicalstudents trade their anatomy apps for AR. An augmented reality tool displayed an internal viewof the bodyon top of a students physique. The technology also included agesture-sensitive user interface, allowing people to interact with the AR representation.

The Top Augmented and Virtual Reality Companies in Healthcare

Thepromises of medical augmented reality and virtual reality are compelling enoughto get anyone excited about whats possible. These companies intend to be atthe forefront of VR and AR healthcare.

Founded: 2012

Location: London, United Kingdom

Funding to Date: $9.6 million

Key Clients/Milestones: FundamentalVR was named one of Time Magazines best inventions for 2018 and got an Interactive Innovation Award at SXSW 2019. All of FundamentalVRs simulations are accredited by theRoyal College of Surgeons of England. The company also has a joint development agreementwith the Mayo Clinic.

Thiscompany offers flight simulator-like training for surgeons. The approach allowsthem to rehearse, practice and improve their surgical techniques in acontrolled environment that includes haptic elements for tactile feedback.Although the company has many virtual reality simulations, it also offers AR tech using Microsofts HoloLens technology. It allows users to work togetherthrough the simulations.

Founded:2016

Location: San Francisco, California

Funding to Date: $3 million

Key Clients/Milestones: Products are HIPAA-compliant and FDA-registered.

Thecompany uses evidence-based approaches to treat chronic pain through virtualreality simulations. Patients can do the treatment at home or in a localclinic. If done in a clinic, the treatment program lasts from four to 12 weeksbased on the patients individual needs.

Founded: 2016

Location: Oxford, United Kingdom

Funding to Date:13.2 million

Key Clients/Milestones:It has partnerships with the United Kingdoms National Health Service, as well as the McPin Foundation, which works to improve mental health research. OxfordVR also won the 2020 award in the Apps and Software categoryfor Best Mental Health Immersive Technology at the MedTech Visionaries Awards.

OxfordVRfocuses on virtual reality to relieve the symptoms of mental disorders andfears. For example, its fear of heights simulation reduced the issue inpatients by an average of 68%after only two hours of treatment.

Founded: 2014

Location:Arlington Heights, Illinois, and Yoqneam, Israel

Funding to Date: $25.1 million

Key Clients/Milestones: The company hasreceived FDA 501(k) clearancefor its headset. It will begin distributing its headsets throughout the U.S in early 2020 and plans to move into uses beyond spinal surgeries soon.

Thecompany has what it calls the first augmented reality guidance system forsurgery, known as xvision. The technology adds a 3D representation thatenables surgeons to see the patients anatomy through skin and tissue as ifthey had X-ray vision. When tested as surgeons placed spinal screws incadavers, the accuracy rate while using the VR headset was 98.9%.

Founded: 2010

Location: Los Angeles, California, and Cleveland, Ohio

Funding to Date: $9.6 million

Key Clients/Milestones: The Mayo Clinic, UCLA School of Medicine, St. Josephs Childrens Hospital and the Stanford School of Medicine are among the places that have used the companys technology so far.

SurgicalTheater created a surgical rehearsal platform for neurosurgicalprocedures called Precision VR. It allows for better preoperative planning.However, unlike some medical technology companies, this one has simulations apatient can go through with their health provider. For example, if a personfaces an operation for a brain tumor, they can see a VR scenario that shows theprocess.

Founded: 2012

Location: Santa Clara, California

Funding to Date: $14.3 million

Key Clients/Milestones: It has received FDA clearance. Institutions includingCincinnati Childrens Hospital, Primary Childrens Hospital, C.S. Mott Hospital, Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital have brought the technology into clinical use.

Thecompany offers an AR healthcare platform called True3D that facilitatesvisualizing and interacting with the organs and tissue for a specific patient.Users can also see medical imaging results along with the holograph-like imagesprovided by the technology.

Founded: 2016

Location: Brooklyn, New York

Funding to Date: $2.5 million

Key Clients/Milestones: Medivis counts Verizon, Microsoft and Magic Leap among its industry partners. Medivis also recently launched its program for patientsusing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs at the VA Palo Alto Medical Center. The goal of that initiative is to identify health applications that combine with 5G technology. West Coast also used the Medivs platform to help medical students learn anatomy.

The companycombines medical augmented reality with artificial intelligence (AI) to providehelpful presurgical information or details related to a persons anatomy. Itenvisions a time when healthcare providers can break free of the limitationsposed by 2D screens and instead bring information and tools to the real worldthrough 3D representations.

Founded: 2017

Location: Westminster, Colorado

Funding to Date: $17million

Key Clients/Milestones: St. Judes Childrens Research Hospital, the University of Michigan Health System, and Eastern Virginia Medical Center are some of the facilities that have used the Health Scholars platform so far.

Health Scholars offers VR medical training covering surgical skills, obstetrics, and resuscitation. The company also provides a learning management interface that enables educators to create simulations for students to use.

Founded: 2015

Location: Charlestown, Massachusetts

Funding to Date: $30 million

Key Clients/Milestones: It was the first surgical robotto receive FDA Breakthrough designation. Bill Gates is one of the companys backers.

Thecompany combines virtual reality with a surgical robot to result in minimallyinvasive procedures.

Founded: 2013

Location: London, United Kingdom

Funding to Date: $19.5 million.

Key Clients/Milestones: Touch Surgery received the Amazon Web Services Hot Startups Award, and it also got a Brandon Hall Silver Award in 2014. Residency programs at the Cleveland Clinic, Stanford School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital, and others use Touch Surgerys technology for training.

TouchSurgery offers more than 200 VR surgical simulations and videos across 17specialties that learners can access anywhere with an internet connection.

Founded: 2016

Location: Seattle, Washington

Funding to Date: $30 million

Key Clients/Milestones: Seattle Childrens Hospital and theUniversity of Washingtons Department of Neurological Surgery are two of the companys clinical research partners.

Thecompany blends human vision with computerized technology, enabling surgeons tosee the body in new, immersive ways and improving the success rates of theirprocedures.

Founded: 2005

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Funding to Date: $2.1 million

Key Clients/Milestones: The Cleveland Clinic, University of Calgary, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Johns Hopkins Medicine were some of the early adopters of ImmersiveTouchs technology.

ImmersiveTouchcreates 3D virtual reality models using a patients individualized medicalimaging data.

Founded: 2016

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Funding to Date: $2 million

Key Clients/Milestones: OSSO VR was involved in a pilot program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and was a DocsF18 Innovation Award Winner.

Thiscompany specializes in using virtual reality to facilitate surgical trainingand assessments. It offers fully immersive VR experiences, complete with hapticfeedback.

Founded: 2017

Location: St. Louis, Missouri

Funding to Date: $7.4 million

Key Clients/Milestones: Was named one of the Top 10 Cardiovascular Device Companiesin 2019 by Med Tech Outlook

Thiscompany uses medical augmented reality to create a holographic visualization ofa patients anatomy. That image floats over the patient during interventionalprocedures, such as while treatingcardiac arrhythmias in a catheterlab.

Founded: 2016

Location: Taipei City, Taiwan, and Fairfax, Virginia

Funding to Date: $500,000

Key Clients/Milestones: Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, and the Davao Medical School Foundation are some of the companys clients. Medical Augmented Intelligence counts Intel, NVIDIA, and Vive among its technology partners.

MedicalAugmented Intelligence offers immersive virtual reality training for anatomyand acupuncture, plus digital twin models for patient education.The patient-based models convert 2D medical images to VR models in less than 30seconds.

Developed: 2016

Location:Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic

Cost:The HoloAnatomy app is free, but the Microsoft HoloLens device that enables the app costs $3,000.

Key Clients/Milestones: It was a winner at the2016 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Science Media Awards

Althoughmost of this list consists of the top augmented and virtual reality healthcarecompanies, this entry is a bit different because its an app. When using aMicrosoft HoloLens device, people can go through a digitized, interactiveanatomy curriculum.

Founded: 2009

Location: Palo Alto, California

Funding to Date: $3.6 million

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18 Healthcare Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Companies to Watch - HIT Consultant