Enhancing medical digital twins within metaverse using blockchain, NFTs and LLMs

Abstract

Medical digital twins (MDTs) are rapidly emerging as transformative tools in healthcare. They provide virtual representations of medical devices and systems that facilitate real-time analysis and enhance decision-making. However, challenges such as secure data management, access control, and the lack of immersive and intelligent patient interactions limit their effectiveness. In this paper, we propose a solution integrating blockchain technology, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and Large Language Models (LLMs) within a metaverse environment to enhance MDT functionality. Blockchain and NFTs ensure secure ownership and access control, while the metaverse offers an engaging platform for user interaction. An LLM-powered non-player character (NPC) enables intelligent real-time user interactions and personalized insights. We develop two blockchain smart contracts for user registration, NFT ownership, and access control, and utilize decentralized InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) storage for the metaverse, MDT metadata, and interaction logs. We present the system architecture, sequence diagrams, and algorithms, along with the implementation and testing details. We conduct cost, security, and response time analyses to evaluate the smart contracts and LLM performance and compare our solution with existing approaches. We discuss practical implications, as well as challenges and limitations of the proposed solution. Finally, we explore the generalization of our system for various applications. The smart contract code and metaverse files are publicly available on GitHub.