Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jul 22;15(1):26655.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-12068-6.

A blockchain secured metaverse framework for scalable and immersive telemedicine

Rahul Ganpatrao Sonkamble  1 , Swati Shirke-Deshmukh  1 , Vijay Katkar  1 , M Lunagaria  2 , Ganshyam G Tejani  3   4 , Seyed Jalaleddin Mousavirad  5
Affiliations

A blockchain secured metaverse framework for scalable and immersive telemedicine

Rahul Ganpatrao Sonkamble et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The rapid evolution of telemedicine has enhanced healthcare accessibility, yet significant challenges persist, particularly in data security, patient engagement, latency, and scalability. Existing telemedicine solutions rely on centralized architectures, making Electronic Health Records (EHRs) susceptible to data breaches and unauthorized access. This research proposes a novel system which integrates the metaverse and blockchain into telemedicine which can be a transformative approach to solve problems in remote healthcare. By combining immersive virtual environments with decentralized data management, the proposed solution described in this paper aims to give users more ways to interact with each other, enhanced data security, increased efficiency, and higher scalability. The Metaverse serves as the foundation for the implementation of 3D consultation rooms, virtual training spaces, and individual care. Blockchain offers safe, transparent, and immutable data exchange that will create patient-empowered medical records for them. Real-time devices and analysis of real-time physiological data from wearables, sensors, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) analytics complete the system. The proposed solution extensively uses Virtual Reality (VR)/Augmented Reality (AR) devices, IoT sensors, Ethereum, and the Unity 3D platform, among others. Assessments indicate that system receives a significantly high level of satisfaction from its users, better secured data, increased automation of processes, and compliance with global standards such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Compliance with such global standards is achieved through smart contract-based access management, smart contract-based consent management, and immutable audit trails in the blockchain. Moreover, this research demonstrates that incorporating high-tech tools like AI and VR into telemedicine is currently feasible. This paves the way for the creation of even more secure and user-friendly telemedicine platforms that employ neural networks. This research sets a foundation for next-generation telemedicine ecosystems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Architecture for telemedicine with integration of blockchain and metaverse.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
User engagement with the system.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Access Management to the system.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Efficiency of the system.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Scalability of the system.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Success rate of the system.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Wootton, R. & Telemedicine. BMJ 323, 557–560, Available online at: https://www.bmj.com/content/323/7312/557.1?change_country=1 (2001).
    1. Hjelm, N. M. Benefits and drawbacks of telemedicine. J. Telemed Telecare. 11, 60–70 (2005). - PubMed
    1. Bhattacharya, P. et al. Metaverse assisted telesurgery in healthcare 5.0: An interplay of blockchain and explainable AI. In Proc. Int. Conf. Comput. Inf. Telecommun. Syst. 1–5IEEE, (2022).
    1. Mystakidis, S. Metaverse Encyclopedia2, 486–497 (2022).
    1. Kim, D. Y., Lee, H. K. & Chung, K. Avatar-mediated experience in the metaverse: the impact of avatar realism on user-avatar relationship. J. Retail Consum. Serv.73, 103382 (2023).