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Artificial Intelligence in the OR: Separating the Hype From the Reality
said Sandip Panesar, MD, a postdoctoral research fellow in neurosurgery at Stanford University, in California. But, he caurtificial intelligence in medicine is tioned, “robots and devices that can take here. But it’s still in its infancy. over human dexterity: That’s in the future. The FDA has approved about three Humans will have to hold AI’s hand for a dozen AI algorithms in medicine over long time.” the past few years, many of which aim to But will AI someday replace physihelp physicians diagnose disease: diabet- cians? Judith Pins, RN, MBA, the presiic retinopathy from retinal images, can- dent of the health care education company cerous liver and lung lesions from CT Pfiedler Education, a subsidiary of the and MRI scans, and breast cancer from Association of periOperative Registered mammograms. Nurses, does not think so. Ms. Pins, who Entrepreneurs and health care lead- recently spoke at a Nurse Executive Leaders also have jumped on board. Last year, ership Seminar on the OR of the future, health AI startups brought in $4 billion sees AI as a tool that can assist providers. in funding, and a recent survey found that “AI won’t replace doctors and nurses, about half of hospital executives intend to but it can help make good providers great invest in AI over the next year or two. ones in terms of validating diagnoses and Although some experts predict that AI patient care,” she said. will transform medicine, others worry the Dan Hashimoto, MD, MS, a general buzz may be overblown. A recent headline surgery resident at Massachusetts Generin The Los Angeles Times asked, “Can AI al Hospital, in Boston, has some concerns live up to the hype?” and an article from about the hype surrounding AI in medThe Hill explored the “Dangers of Artifi- icine. Dr. Hashimoto believes that unrecial Intelligence in Medicine.” alistic expectations about AI can “lead to “At the moment, the term AI is very significant disappointment and disilluhyped, but a lot of it is real and already sionment” (Ann Surg 2018;268[1]:70-76). translating into something tangible,” Artificial intelligence experts have seen By VICTORIA STERN
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it happen before. In the early 1990s, when advances in expert systems—AI software that can mimic the decision-making ability of a human—did not live up to the media hype, the research fizzled. “Problems arose because we did not have enough computational power several decades ago to develop robust algorithms that could deal with large image data sets,” said Sharmila Majumdar, PhD, a professor and the vice chair of research in the Department of Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco, who launched the Artificial Intelligence Center to Advance Medical Imaging last year. But Dr. Hashimoto—who co-directs the Surgical Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Laboratory at MGH with Ozanan Meireles, MD, an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, in Boston—says things are different now. “I think it’s the right time to pursue AI because the hardware is catching up to the concepts,” he said. An AI Algorithm to Guide Surgeons Despite the growing number of medical AI designs, not many products being developed are specific to surgery.
