Artificial intelligence in thoracic surgery: past, present, perspective and limits

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is becoming prevalent in many areas of everyday life. The healthcare industry is concerned by it even though its widespread use is still limited. Thoracic surgeons should be aware of the new opportunities that could affect their daily practice, by direct use of AI technology or indirect use via related medical fields (radiology, pathology and respiratory medicine). The objective of this article is to review applications of AI related to thoracic surgery and discuss the limits of its application in the European Union. Key aspects of AI will be developed through clinical pathways, beginning with diagnostics for lung cancer, a prognostic-aided programme for decision making, then robotic surgery, and finishing with the limitations of AI, the legal and ethical issues relevant to medicine. It is important for physicians and surgeons to have a basic knowledge of AI to understand how it impacts healthcare, and to consider ways in which they may interact with this technology. Indeed, synergy across related medical specialties and synergistic relationships between machines and surgeons will likely accelerate the capabilities of AI in augmenting surgical care.

Comparison of the BOPPPS Model and Traditional Instructional Approaches in Thoracic Surgery Teaching

“…It is di cult to improve clinical interns' professional ability in thoracic surgery in a short period. Modern thoracic surgery has been developing continuously, which puts forward higher medical education requirements [1]. females and 23 males in the control group, with an average age of 22.4.…”

Artificial intelligence assisted display in thoracic surgery: development and possibilities

“…With the times, the surgical management for lung cancer needs to be improved, and the difficulties mentioned above might be overcome with the help of new emerging technology, artificial intelligence (AI) (19,20).…”

Requirement of artificial intelligence technology awareness for thoracic surgeons

“…As described above, in thoracic oncology patient management, the virtual component of AI is being used. In pure terms, surgeons are using the mechatronic or robotic branch of AI in a very limited manner and the term ‘surgical robots’ are often mistakenly interpreted in the AI context [ 16 ]. Although the term ‘robotic surgery’ is often applied to the da Vinci surgical system device-assisted surgery, it is a misconception of fully autonomous surgery since it cannot be self-programmed, nor can it make independent decisions to perform any surgical procedure, and characteristically, it is only a master-slave kind of assist device.…”