Artificial Intelligence to Improve Surgical Skills

Artificial intelligence (AI) is driving progress in the surgical treatment of cataracts, one of the world’s leading causes of visual impairment.

At the Michigan Medicine Kellogg Eye Center, machine learning—a branch of artificial intelligence that studies computer algorithms to identify patterns in large amounts of data—is being used to assess and improve the capabilities of residents performing cataract surgery, the most commonly performed surgery in the world.

A team of researchers and clinicians, led by Bradford Tannen, M.D., J.D., and Nambi Nallasamy, M.D., is using AI to analyze videos of cataract surgeries to identify surgical factors associated with better outcomes. The results are expected to provide critical feedback to improve the skills of cataract surgeons, especially those in training.

While much of a resident’s time is spent learning clinical skills, Dr. Tannen and Dr. Nallasamy saw the need to develop a more comprehensive and objective method of continuously improving surgical skills. This new system is intended to supplement the traditional model of real-time surgical evaluation by the attending physician during surgery, which, says. Nallasamy, “is subjective and often lacks longitudinal observation and support.”

“We thought, what we're doing isn’t ideal,” says Dr.Tannen. “Why don't we use and AI machine learning to capture and extract data from surgeries and share it with our residents? The data would be compared to patient outcomes to determine the most effective procedures. Essentially, the data will show what makes a good surgeon.”

For example, he says, “We can see that this specific technique led to a good outcome while other maneuvers may be less successful. In terms of residency training, this will be an important tool to help them know if they’re making progress.”

“By using artificial intelligence to automate the analysis of surgical videos and provide automated assessments of surgical skills, we have the opportunity to accelerate the pace and success of mastery of surgical skills,” says Dr. Nallasamy.

Yibing Zhang (above) and Tingyang Li (below) work on the development of deep neural networks for cataract surgery videos.