From rocks to scalpels to catheters to computers, artificial intelligence (AI) has been gradually transforming modern society. While AI impacts all aspects of human life, including business, law, creative arts, etc, it has especially affected the field of medicine. New developments in AI have reached the operating room and drastically changed the way that surgeons perform procedures, procure samples, and prescribe treatments for patients. Regardless of one’s perspective on the ethical implications of AI, there is no doubt that technology holds and will continue to hold a tremendous amount of influence over the clinical setting and shape the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients every day.
The most promising aspect of the utilization of artificial intelligence in the operating room has been the speed at which it processes and analyzes data. Some computers can take as little as two and a half minutes to read and analyze laser-created images or tumor samples —orders of magnitude faster than the speed of traditional methods used by human radiologists and pathologists (Grady). Dr. Daniel Orringer, a renowned neurosurgeon at the New York University Langone hospital, developed a computer-generated algorithm that can predict the genetics of a tumor in less than three minutes compared to the three weeks it would take with a traditional pathologist (NBC News). In Dr. Orringer’s case, he had a patient with glioblastoma, one of the most common types of brain cancer with an average survival time of eight months (NBC News). With the high speed and accuracy (93% correctly identified and diagnosed tumors), Dr. Orringer could quickly determine a treatment based on the genetic mutations that AI had analyzed and processed (NBC News).
Despite the many optimistic stories of artificial intelligence saving patients’ lives in the operating room, there are also many drawbacks and risks of employing AI in the medical setting. For one, the machine learning algorithms many AIs use can uncover subtle patterns in data that humans miss, but they are also prone to error as they are limited by the type and accuracy of the data (Hashimoto et al). Not only medically but also personally, Americans express concern regarding the application of AI in their medical lives. Due to AI’s breach of personal information, 60% of Americans express discomfort with AI’s role in diagnosing diseases and recommending treatment according to a study conducted by Alec Tyson et al. at the Pew Research Center. The study surveyed 11,004 adults in the United States to explore the public’s view on the application of artificial intelligence in the medical setting (Tyson et al.). However, even with its power to rapidly analyze data and diagnose specimens with acceptable accuracy, AI still cannot provide the necessary clinical interpretation of its own analyses (Hashimoto et al). This deficiency means that human surgeons and physicians will still be needed to provide proper, accurate clinical interpretation and recommend effective treatment plans, revealing that AI still has a long way to go before outright replacing human medical professionals (Hashimoto et al).
Both the incredible advancements and potential risks of the implementation of artificial intelligence in the medical setting present challenges to the medical community, but will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the operating room for years to come. In the preoperative phase of surgery, AI can help surgeons collect data on the patient’s lifestyle and health condition to help the surgery go more smoothly (Hashimoto et al). Intraoperatively, AI-gathered data on vital signs and other factors will allow surgeons to make quicker, more well-informed decisions that could potentially save the patient’s life (Hashimoto et al). Finally, AI will play a crucial role in the postoperative recovery phase as patients seek to return to their normal lives—a life forever enhanced and diminished by the presence of artificial intelligence.
Works Cited
Grady, Denise. “A.I. Comes to the Operating Room.” The New York Times, 6 January 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/health/artificial-intelligence-brain-cancer.html. Accessed 24 November 2023.
Hashimoto, Daniel A., et al. “Artificial Intelligence in Surgery.” Annals of Surgery, vol. 268, no. 1, July 2018, pp. 70–76, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5995666/, https://doi.org/10.1097/sla.0000000000002693. Accessed 24 November 2023.
NBC News. “Live Brain Surgery: See How Doctors Are Using A.I. In the O.R.” www.youtube.com, 1 May 2023, m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcgms_xkpSg. Accessed 25 November 2023.
Tyson, Alec, et al. “60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable with Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care.” Pew Research Center Science & Society, 22 February 2023, www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/02/22/60-of-americans-would-be-uncomfortable-with-provider-relying-on-ai-in-their-own-health-care/. Accessed 24 November 2023.
