6. Outlook

Virtual reality techniques in medicine are set to undergo considerable development over the next few years. This virtualization of medical practice (surgical simulation, virtual endoscopy, augmented reality and robotics), which involves inserting a computer interface between the patient and the medical expert, is made possible by medical imaging, which appeared over a century ago (Roentgen in 1895).

However, the use of virtual reality in medicine is different from that in other industrial or artistic fields. Firstly, for a technology to be adopted, it needs to be validated on a large number of cases, and its contribution to patient health needs to be proven. This consideration, which seems perfectly logical, slows down the spread of the technology and increases the cost of access to it. Finally, in the author's opinion, it is inconceivable to eliminate contact between...