Virtual reality in medicine. Application of virtual (artificial) reality computer systems in medical diagnostic imaging. A scientist wears a headset which projects a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of structures of the brain onto a patient's head. Computer scientists here at the University of North Carolina aim to distil various types of diagnostic images (X-rays, CT and MRI scans) into a digital model that is displayed through the head-mounted glasses. Linking these images to virtual reality computer software, doctors may peer inside the body of their patients in order to detect medical abnormalities and plan surgery or anticancer therapy.