Development of Augmented Reality-Based Radiation Protection Application for Healthcare Professionals

Background: Radiodiagnosis is widely performed in medical institutions. All medical professionals, including nurses, are at risk of radiation exposure. This study developed an educational application for radiation medical professionals to visualize the distribution of scattered radiation using augmented reality. Materials and Methods: A Monte Carlo simulation code was used to simulate mobile chest and abdominal radiography. The calculation results were incorporated into an augmented reality application. The results of the Monte Carlo calculations were validated by comparing them with radiation measurements. An augmented reality application for tablet devices was developed in Unity that visualizes the scattered radiation dose. Results and Discussion: The application was developed by visualizing the distribution of scattered radiation in mobile radiography in augmented reality in three-dimensional real space. The calculation results were validated, and the error between the displayed radiation dose values and the measured radiation dose values was generally less than 10%. Conclusion: The developed application allows users to overlay quantitative values of imperceptible radiation exposure doses onto any real-world environment. This enables users to intuitively understand the relationship between the distance from a radiation source and the received dose, thereby contributing to a better understanding of radiation protection in clinical settings.