Work

Drivers of innovation and adoption in medical extended reality: a summary report of the 2024 MDIC medical extended reality summit

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The adoption and integration of augmented and virtual reality technology as medical devices (medical extended reality devices) continues to accelerate across a variety of medical specialties, including surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology, neurorehabilitation, pain management, and mental and behavioral health. However, as a novel medical device category, medical extended reality (MedXR)-based devices encounter unique challenges during the design, development, assessment, and adoption phases in the medical ecosystem. Founded in 2012, the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC), a non-profit public-private partnership dedicated to advancing medical device regulatory science, hosted the Medical Extended Reality 2024 Summit. This summit led to discussions that addressed these challenges and suggested opportunities and areas for innovation and a roadmap for the adoption of MedXR. The meeting predominantly focused on procedural, mental health, and surgical MedXR applications. Discussions covered significant advances in regulatory science, evaluation technologies, and clinical development. Furthermore, the summit surfaced critical needs for interoperability, robust clinical evidence generation, and viable commercialization pathways.

Source: Frontiers in Virtual Reality

DOI: 10.3389/frvir.2026.1712524