Development and Pre-Validation of a Gamified Virtual Reality Platform for SPECT Education and Training with Biomedical Engineering Metrics Integration

Abstract

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) is a nuclear medicine imaging modality widely used in cardiology, neurology, and oncology. However, its teaching in Biomedical Engineering, Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy, and Medicine programmes remains largely dependent on traditional methods, constrained by limited access to Gamma Cameras and workstations, high operational costs, and restrictions related to ionising radiation exposure. Virtual Reality (VR) offers a promising alternative for immersive, safe, and repeatable training environments. Nevertheless, dedicated SPECT educational platforms that integrate realistic simulation, gamification strategies, and quantitative performance assessment remain scarce. This work presents the conceptual design of a gamified VR-based training framework for SPECT education, to be developed in Unity for Meta Quest 3. The system simulates key stages of the SPECT workflow. It also incorporates equipment interaction and operational error handling to support experiential learning. Although conceptual, the framework proposes evaluation metrics for usability, accessibility, and pedagogical effectiveness. Its main contribution is a structured model combining gamification principles with quantitative performance indicators to enable objective assessment of technical skills. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no comparable frameworks integrating SPECT simulation, gamification, and biomedical engineering metrics for competency-based training were identified in the reviewed literature.