Cauliflower AR

This work explores the development of an AR application for dermatome testing as part of the neurologic exam. User feedback suggest that AR could facilitate clinical decision-making by providing intuitive reference interfaces and real-time feedback about possible etiologies of the patient’s condition. Although the specific focus of Cauliflower AR on dermatome testing may not be the most useful utility, it served as a successful proof-of-concept for both medical students and physicians. Other applications of AR in neurology include the testing of myotomes, peripheral nerves, and the brachial plexus.

 

Learning resources for the HoloLens are scarce. It is a niche platform with a relatively small developer community compared to mature systems like iOS and Android. This results in the limitations of the current application version not being able to resize or reposition the hologram of the dermatome mapping, inconsistent speech recognition, and low resolution text labels. The system also lacks integration with an analytic system for identifying likely lesions responsible for the physical exam findings. In addition to application development, this work also explores the iterative design approach of incorporating user feedback into the process. It was shown to be an important step in understanding the perspective of AR technology in medicine and elucidating the functions that would be most useful in a clinical situation.