Mapping interconnectivity of digital twin healthcare research themes through structural topic modeling

Digital twin (DT) technology is revolutionizing healthcare systems by leveraging real-time data integration and advanced analytics to enhance patient care, optimize clinical operations, and facilitate simulation. This study aimed to identify key research trends related to the application of DTs to healthcare using structural topic modeling (STM). Five electronic databases were searched for articles related to healthcare and DT. Using the held-out likelihood, residual, semantic coherence, and lower bound as metrics revealed that the optimal number of topics was eight. The "security solutions to improve data processes and communication in healthcare" topic was positioned at the center of the network and connected to multiple nodes. The "cloud computing and data network architecture" and "machine-learning algorithms for accurate detection and prediction" topics served as a bridge between technical and healthcare topics, suggesting their high potential for use in various fields. The widespread adoption of DTs in healthcare requires robust governance structures to protect individual rights, ensure data security and privacy, and promote transparency and fairness. Compliance with regulatory frameworks, ethical guidelines, and a commitment to accountability are also crucial.