Interactive and Mixed-Reality Data Visualisations for Assessment of Musculoskeletal Conditions

Recent advances in data collection methods such as wearable sensors and smartphone-based tools have enabled
detailed and diverse sets of patient-generated data to be gathered for the assessment of musculoskeletal conditions.
The data produced by these methods is often complex and difficult for clinicians to interpret and present to patients.
Standard 2D data presentation methods are often not suitable for displaying such data in a way that is engaging or
comprehensible.
The next challenge is finding a way of presenting this data in a meaningful way - assisting in the diagnosis, treatment,
and management of patients' conditions. This project will assess the suitability of mixed reality for achieving this, and
for developing engaging tools for interacting with other clinical data such as MRI scans and X-rays. The use of mixed
reality will provide opportunities to use novel interfaces and visualisations, such as viewing and manipulating virtual
3D models generated from MRI scans, exploring 3D graphical representations of data sets, and augmenting data
physicalization methods with virtual content.
Mixed reality also offers great benefits for collaboration between patients and clinicians. It is hoped that this will allow
clinicians to better inform patients and help build a mutual understanding and trust around decisions made by
clinicians.
This project aims to research the opportunities and benefits that mixed reality data visualisations can provide in
clinical settings. It will explore whether mixed reality applications can:
Improve collaboration between patients and clinicians,
Provide more engaging and insightful interaction with patient-generated and clinical data,
Offer significant value from a wider healthcare perspective through improved understanding, diagnosis, and
treatment of patients' conditions,
Create engaging methods of data exploration and perception using data physicalization.
The proposed project will build upon existing collaborati ons with the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases
and BathSPARC (Bath Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium) to provide potential pathways to impact for the
outputs of the research, including opportunities to deploy and evaluate technology-based tools.
The methodology for this project will consist of:
An assessment of the current state of the art and previous research into using mixed reality in clinical settings
through a systematic literature review.
An assessment of the suitability of different mixed reality data visualisation methods for specific use cases within
clinical settings.
The design and evaluation of prototype applications to be used by clinicians and patients for interacting with patient
data.
This project is funded by EPSRC under the healthcare technologies theme and will aim to address some of the
challenges presented in that theme:
Developing Future Therapies: Mixed reality can be used to help support the development of novel therapies by
providing new ways of interacting and engaging with patient and clinical data.
Frontiers of Physical Intervention: Rehabilitation and management of patients' conditions can be improved through
using mixed reality to provide a greater understanding of patient data and to support conversation between patients
and clinicians.
Optimising Treatment: Mixed reality data visualisations can have significant value in improving the efficacy of
diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal conditions.