Introduction: Big data in healthcare and surgical sciences, combined with advances in computer technology and software, has brought healthcare and medical applications into the age of Artificial intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). These technologies have started to come to the fore even more with the metaverse era. The main purpose of this review is to discuss the advances and challenges of these methods in transplantation.

Method: In this systematic review study, we systematically searched for studies on MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The concepts of AI, Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), AR, VR and Metaverse which opened a new era in transplantation, were discussed and their application areas in transplantation in the literature were examined. Along with the benefits it will provide limitations and possible risky situations, disadvantages and especially the ethical dimension have been examined.

Results: AI is a scientific approach that uses theories and mathematical algorithms to give computer systems the ability to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence. ML and DL algorithms in particular AI models will create a decision support system for the clinician at every stage related to the patient in transplantation. Some basic applications of AI in transplantation are seen in evaluations such as listing for transplantation, organ allocation algorithms, determining whether to accept the organ for a particular recipient, creating a clinical prediction and decision support system that will guide the physician, estimating mortality and morbidity in the waiting list, and post-transplant survival analysis. There are also examples of AI in image processing, organ allocation, donor and recipient matching, pathology, real-time immunosuppression, transplant oncology, and predictive analysis. VR and AR are areas of robotic surgery innovation in the coming years. VR is generally defined as an experience where a user stays physically in their real world while entering a virtual world using a computer or mobile device. AR is a technology that overlays digital information on real-world objects or places to enhance the user experience. Applications of AR in the field of transplantation include its use in the training of transplant surgeons, in promoting organ donations, in graft retrieval and allocation, and in the microscopic diagnosis of organ rejection, in the treatment of complications and post-transplant neoplasms.

Conclusion: In the digital age we live in, these methods should be used in the clinical decision-making process in the field of transplantation. In the coming years, clinical transplant professionals will increasingly use these models to support their decisions. With the use of these applications in transplantation, organ use can be optimized, complications can be predicted and pre-transplant management can be optimized, which can reduce the need for transplantation.