Artificial intelligence in cardiothoracic surgery

Abstract

The tremendous and rapid technological advances that humans have achieved in the last decade have definitely impacted how surgical tasks are performed in the operating room (OR). As a high-tech work environment, the contemporary OR has incorporated novel computational systems into the clinical workflow, aiming to optimize processes and support the surgical team. Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly important for surgical decision making to help address diverse sources of information, such as patient risk factors, anatomy, disease natural history, patient values and cost, and assist surgeons and patients to make better predictions regarding the consequences of surgical decisions. In this review, we discuss the current initiatives that are using AI in cardiothoracic surgery and surgical care in general. We also address the future of AI and how high-tech ORs will leverage human-machine teaming to optimize performance and enhance patient safety.

Figure 1.—

Surgeon’s cognitive load as measured by the HRV parameter: low frequency (LF)/high frequency (HF) ratio captured by a wearable physiological sensor.

Figure 2.—

Computer vision system extracting human body position and motion in the cardiac operating room.