Concepts and applications of digital twins in healthcare and medicine

Kang Zhang (Lead / Corresponding author), Hong Yu Zhou, Daniel T. Baptista-Hon, Yuanxu Gao, Xiaohong Liu, Eric Oermann, Sheng Xu, Shengwei Jin, Jian Zhang, Zhuo Sun, Yun Yin, Ronald M. Razmi, Alexandre Loupy, Stephan Beck (Lead / Corresponding author), Jia Qu (Lead / Corresponding author), Joseph Wu (Lead / Corresponding author), International Consortium of Digital Twins in Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)
18 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The digital twin (DT) is a concept widely used in industry to create digital replicas of physical objects or systems. The dynamic, bi-directional link between the physical entity and its digital counterpart enables a real-time update of the digital entity. It can predict perturbations related to the physical object's function. The obvious applications of DTs in healthcare and medicine are extremely attractive prospects that have the potential to revolutionize patient diagnosis and treatment. However, challenges including technical obstacles, biological heterogeneity, and ethical considerations make it difficult to achieve the desired goal. Advances in multi-modal deep learning methods, embodied AI agents, and the metaverse may mitigate some difficulties. Here, we discuss the basic concepts underlying DTs, the requirements for implementing DTs in medicine, and their current and potential healthcare uses. We also provide our perspective on five hallmarks for a healthcare DT system to advance research in this field.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101028
Number of pages15
JournalPatterns
Volume5
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Aug 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Decision Sciences

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