Brain Surgery And AI

Brain surgery is a risky business. Straying a millimetre in the wrong direction can be fatal to a patient. When removing a tumour, for example, if you go too small you risk not removing all of the tumour, whereas if you go to large you risk damaging critical structures in the brain. In the brain every tiny blood vessel is important because it may be supplying something vital – eyesight, body movement, bowel function, in fact virtually every system in the body.

AI systems can analyse hundreds of videos of brain surgery, and help surgeons to decide where the boundary lies between going too small and going to large. In this way AI systems can develop a level of experience it may take a surgeon many years to obtain.