Study finds AI has multiple uses in surgery

New research led by the University of Auckland shows that AI can help solve problems for patients, doctors and healthcare systems.

You might think that artificial intelligence can't play a role in surgery, but new research shows that AI can help solve problems for patients, doctors, and health systems.

A group of researchers led by Dr Chris Varghese, a surgical researcher at the University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau, has published a paper on artificial intelligence in surgery in a leading journal. natural medicine.

“I think AI has a role in every part of the patient's surgical journey: before surgery, during surgery, and most interestingly, after surgery,” says Varghese.

“Every time you leave the hospital, the risk of complications from surgery increases.

“AI has real potential to provide monitoring and safety nets that can help reduce and prevent some of these complications and enhance the recovery that can be achieved at home.”

Another application of AI is already in use in Aotearoa, New Zealand. There, automated algorithms can handle very long waiting lists and prioritize based on need, so the right patients are seen at the right time.

An emerging field is the use of AI during surgery using “computer vision”.

“The AI ​​is trying to learn what the surgeon is looking at, what the surgical instruments look like, and what different organs look like,” Dr. Varghese says.

“And we may be able to identify abnormal anatomical structures; [determine] What is the safest approach to surgery?

“Using virtual reality and augmented reality to plan before surgery can be very helpful in removing things like cancer.”

However, there are limitations, especially in overcoming data privacy and ethics issues.

“AI is based on building models from large amounts of data and ensuring that the data input to these algorithms is unbiased and does not perpetuate existing inequalities within datasets, and our research It's essential.

“So we have to really ensure that what we feed these models and what we train these models on is really robust and that we can achieve the best outcomes for patients.

“For New Zealand's future, I think there needs to be a big focus on investing in digital infrastructure.

“Currently, we have hospitals across the country using different health systems that cannot communicate with each other.

“By integrating our healthcare data systems with Te Whatu Ora to capture everyone's data in a secure and robust way, we can ensure we stay ahead of the pack and become leaders in this space as we integrate AI technology into healthcare. is a big possibility.”

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