The Digital Frontier: Can Algorithms Shape the Future of Surgery?
Ayman Raweh Dr. med.
Don't imitate, innovate.. Cardiac Surgeon and Emergency Physician (Facharzt für Herzchirurgie und Notfallmedizin), Dortmund, Germany
In an increasingly digital world, a profound statement echoes: “If a task or process can be digitized, then an algorithm can perform it.” This statement hints at the transformative power of digitization and how it has reshaped industries, from entertainment to healthcare. But can we apply it in surgery?
How Digitization Has Benefited Other Fields
Rewind a few centuries, and one would find musicians traveling from one town to another. Their purpose? To share their musical gift with the world. In those days, experiencing the enchantment of a musical maestro required a live presence. Fans gathered in bustling marketplaces or grand halls, eagerly awaiting the melodies that would radiate from the instruments of their favorite artists. Yet, with the advent of recording technologies, the music world underwent a radical transformation. Suddenly, musicians could immortalize their performances. A song, once bound by the limits of time and place, could now delight fans across continents, bridging cultures and generations.
A similar revolution spread in the realm of literature. Authors, once confined to producing manuscripts tediously by hand, could now replicate their stories in large numbers, thanks to the printing press. Today, with e-books and digital platforms, a writer can write a story once and watch it travel the digital highway, reaching readers in far-off lands.
Software programming further illustrates this trend. Code, once written, can be executed countless times, serving numerous users simultaneously. A single application, written once, can be downloaded and utilized by multiple individuals, reflecting the zenith of scalability.
The Challenge with Surgery
Nowadays, surgical movements can be digitized, as exemplified by the Da Vinci System in robotic-assisted surgery. This technology digitizes the precise hand movements of the surgeon, enabling the surgical instruments to operate on the patient. If these movements can be digitized, then an algorithm can perform it. This opens the door for multiple operations to be digitally replicated. A surgeon can record a single operation and then scale it up to benefit hundreds of thousands of patients.
The area of surgical practice, in contrast, presents a distinct example. Unlike a piece of music or literature that can be created once and duplicated indefinitely, an operation cannot follow the same pattern. Surgery is as much an art as a science, requiring the surgeon’s intimate knowledge, precision, and adaptability. Each patient presents a unique challenge demanding a tailored approach. A surgical operation is not a standardized environment, such as recording a song. If a surgeon were to operate on 500 patients, it necessitates 500 distinct operations. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ recording to fall back on.
But what if we dared to dream? What if certain surgical processes could be digitally automated? Not the whole operation, just parts of it. Picture a world where a surgeon’s expert maneuver could be translated into an algorithm. This algorithm can be applied to certain parts of an operation, just like a tool, benefiting countless patients. I know that while complete automation can be challenging in non-standardized areas like surgery, certain tasks or processes can be scaled or standardized to some extent.
The Technological Possibility
If the surgical field lacks standardization, making it difficult to automate the entire operation, other disciplines have successfully incorporated technology into their non-standardized areas. For example, in digital art and 3D modeling, artists use pre-made brushes, patterns, or models across different projects, streamlining the creative process without sacrificing originality. The world of architecture and construction employs modular techniques, manufacturing parts off-site for on-site assembly, thereby scaling up construction without compromising design uniqueness. Similarly, advances in fashion design technology have made it possible to create custom-fit clothing based on body scans, marrying standardization with personalization. Even in cooking, the advent of meal kits has introduced a blend of standardized, pre-measured ingredients with room for individual cooking styles. While none of these examples precisely mirror the complexities of surgery, they all demonstrate the potential for technology to standardize or scale specific tasks within non-standardized fields.
Surgical Implications
By drawing parallels to examples in other non-standardized fields, we can apply those concepts to surgery. Breaking down the surgical process into smaller tasks could allow for partial automation while preserving the importance of the human touch. By combining technology with human expertise, surgeries could become more efficient, accurate, and safe. The appeal of this idea is undeniable. The solution lies not in automating the entire surgical procedure, but in isolating certain tasks. By standardizing specific aspects
The Future
The potential for a digital renaissance in the field of surgery is on the horizon, where technology and human expertise merge seamlessly. Like how digitization has revolutionized music and literature, surgery may also experience significant advancements through technological integration.