XR in Healthcare: Rehabilitation, Diagnostics and Therapy
This presentation examines the application of Extended Reality (XR), including Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), in healthcare with a primary focus on rehabilitation, diagnostics, and therapeutic interventions. It presents a synthesis of research and practical implementations developed at the Faculty of Informatics, Pan-European University, highlighting XR’s role in addressing neurological, post-acute, and chronic conditions.
In rehabilitation, XR is explored as a tool for both clinical and home-based (tele-rehabilitation) settings, with case studies involving stroke recovery, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and post-COVID-19 rehabilitation. The integration of immersive environments, sensor-based motion tracking, and adaptive task scenarios demonstrates improvements in patient motivation, cognitive stimulation, and functional recovery. The combination of VR for patients and AR for therapists is introduced as a solution for enhancing collaboration and control during therapy.
In diagnostics, XR is applied to the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases through immersive cognitive testing scenarios, often extended with artificial intelligence methods such as speech recognition and data-driven classification. These approaches enable more natural, ecologically valid assessments compared to traditional methods.
Therapeutic applications include stress reduction during procedures such as nano-arthroscopy, pain monitoring via eye and facial tracking, and cognitive and mental health interventions. The presentation also addresses multi-user virtual environments, enabling collaborative care, telemedicine, and AI-driven interaction through intelligent virtual agents.
Finally, the talk discusses evaluation methodologies, combining subjective and objective metrics, as well as key challenges including usability, motion sickness, and system integration. The findings demonstrate XR’s potential to enhance patient outcomes, personalize care, and support scalable, data-driven healthcare solutions.
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Ján Lacko is the Dean of the Faculty of Informatics at Paneuropean University in Bratislava. His research focuses on computer graphics, virtual and extended reality, and interactive visual systems, with particular interest in geometric modeling, real‑time visualization, and immersive technologies. He has been actively involved in research on virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality applications, exploring their use in simulation, education, and engineering contexts. His work combines theoretical aspects of visual computing with practical system design for immersive environments. He has published and presented his research at international conferences and has supervised numerous graduate theses in computer graphics and VR‑related topics. Alongside his research activity, he contributes to shaping modern informatics education by integrating immersive technologies into academic curricula and research initiatives.