Neurosurgeons in London have performed the world’s first successful AI-assisted operation to remove a brain tumour, saving the sight of a 48-year-old man, health officials have said. The surgery was performed in May at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), part of University College London hospitals NHS foundation trust, but details were kept secret until Thursday while the patient, Rhys Hibbert, recovered. While the surgical team remained in full control, the AI system analysed live camera footage during the operation, helping identify key structures such as nerves and blood vessels that should be avoided near the 11mm (0.4in) tumour on Hibbert’s pituitary gland.
He has since returned to work as a customer service manager. The surgeons operated on Hibbert using new AI technology which helps to identify tiny anatomy in the brain by colour-coding important structures to help surgeons recognise them safely. The hospital had previously used the technology as a research tool but the operation was the first time it had been used on a patient.
The pituitary gland, blood vessels and nerves controlling vision are tightly packed together, and “going a millimetre wrong can make a critical difference”, health officials said, potentially leading to blindness, stroke or death. Dr Sophia Bano, an associate professor in robotics and AI at UCL and the technical lead for the AI system, said: “By learning from hundreds of surgical videos, [the system] has been exposed to a breadth of surgical examples that would take a surgeon many years to encounter. Without the operation, he faced going blind, health officials said.
Hibbert, from Bedfordshire, said: “The NHNN was founded in 1859 … and was the world’s first dedicated neurosurgical hospital. So to me, it seems very fitting that the same hospital should also be the world’s first to carry out an AI-assisted neurosurgery.” Prof Mike Lewis, the scientific director for innovation at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which funded the operation as part of a clinical trial, said the “pioneering surgery” highlighted the potential of advanced AI to support surgeons and improve patient care.
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