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Review
. 2022 Jul 30;12(8):1255.
doi: 10.3390/jpm12081255.

Digital Twins in Healthcare: Is It the Beginning of a New Era of Evidence-Based Medicine? A Critical Review

Patrizio Armeni  1 , Irem Polat  2 , Leonardo Maria De Rossi  3 , Lorenzo Diaferia  3 , Severino Meregalli  3 , Anna Gatti  2
Affiliations
Review

Digital Twins in Healthcare: Is It the Beginning of a New Era of Evidence-Based Medicine? A Critical Review

Patrizio Armeni et al. J Pers Med. .

Abstract

Digital Twins (DTs) are used in many different industries (e.g., manufacturing, construction, automotive, and aerospace), and there is an initial trend of applications in healthcare, mainly focusing on precision medicine. If their potential is fully unfolded, DTs will facilitate the as-yet-unrealized potential of connected care and alter the way lifestyle, health, wellness, and chronic disease will be managed in the future. To date, however, due to technical, regulatory and ethical roadblocks, there is no consensus as to what extent DTs in healthcare can introduce revolutionary applications in the next decade. In this review, we present the current applications of DTs covering multiple areas of healthcare (precision medicine, clinical trial design, and hospital operations) to identify the opportunities and the barriers that foster or hinder their larger and faster diffusion. Finally, we discuss the current findings, opportunities and barriers, and provide recommendations to facilitate the continuous development of DTs application in healthcare.

Keywords: clinical trials design; convergence; digital technologies; digital twins; hospital operations; personal health management; precision medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
DT technologies: Working scheme.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The DT concept for personalized medicine.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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