Surgery in healthcare is related to repairing, replacing, or removing any body part. The word surgical is used for anything related to the removal and repairing of body parts. In the healthcare industry, practice refers repetition of any activity to master any skills. With surgical practice, healthcare professionals become experts in performing operations on the human body. Surgical practice isn’t the same as it was a few decades back. With the help of new-age equipment and healthcare technology, the level of surgical practice has increased. In the end, advancements in surgical practice help us all. The recent trend is the use of AI tools for digital transformation in the healthcare industry. Read on to know how AI (Artificial Intelligence) has enhanced surgical practice in 2022.

Subfields of AI used in the healthcare industry

You may have heard about AI and ML (Machine Learning) together a few times. Well, several subfields of AI are used together to achieve better results in the healthcare industry.

Before knowing the use cases of AI, let us know the subfield used for surgical practice:

• Machine Learning
  ML helps healthcare professionals to analyse the available data and detect patterns or frameworks. When deep insights are available, any machine can perform better and allow surgeons to predict things. Any traditional statistical or estimation technique cannot match the prediction level offered by ML algorithms. Contrary to any statistical technique, ML applies multiple algorithms to a single data set to find better insights. For example, a surgeon can rely on ML algorithms to find which treatment path will be the best for any particular patient.

• Natural Language Processing (NLP)
  Machines can understand and process human language with the help of NLP. Consider a healthcare organization that uses a patient access analytics system powered by AI. How will the healthcare organization embed the patient records and payment history into the AI-led system? For doing so, healthcare professionals rely on NLP. Be it a patient access analytics system or any other AI-led system, NLP can help feed medical records into the systems. A surgeon does not have to write on a computer or change their writing style. They can continue to write in their natural language as NLP can easily understand the information and upload it into the AI-led systems.

• Computer Vision (CV)
  Text is one type of data used in the healthcare industry. Surgeons also rely on images, videos, infographics, and other graphical content for practice. Text-based information can be uploaded into AI machines via NLP, but what happens to the graphical information. The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare is vast and also covers graphical information. CV allows an AI-based system/machine to access and understand graphical information. Surgeons often rely on image-based analysis to get to the bottleneck of the underlying issue. With the help of computer vision, surgeons can easily leverage the power of graphical content. CV also helps surgeons in real-time decision-making and reduces the chances of errors.

• Artificial Neural Network (ANN)
  Similar to the human brain, ANNs can process information and offer results. An AI-led system will use ANNs and offer the required outputs to surgeons. ANNs can remember the data related to different medical cases. When needed, ANNs can find similar patterns between different cases. For example, consider there is a rare medical case in a hospital. The surgeon can use ANNs to identify a similar medical case in the past. With the help of past information, the surgery can be started immediately. From patients’ medical records to treatment history, ANNs can analyse it all to detect similar patterns and assist in surgery.

As you can see, the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare is broad. Surgeons work on body parts and need to be precise at times. A simple mistake by a surgeon can cost the patient their life. AI in healthcare IT solutions can enhance the precision level and allow surgeons to treat the patient without any delay. AI-led solutions are known to offer unmatched accuracy to surgeons. Let us see some specific use cases of AI-led solutions in surgical practice.

Use cases of AI-led solutions in surgical practice

The 21st century is witnessing more advancements in AI/ML than ever. Every day, medical science and technology are achieving new heights. Researchers are still finding better ways of treating patients with the help of new-age technologies. The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare isn’t theoretical, as many organizations have already started using AI/ML solutions.

Some popular use cases of AI-led solutions in surgical practice are as follows:

• Surgeons have to indulge in pre-operative planning for any medical case. Via pre-operative planning, surgeons decide the right course of treatment/surgery for any patient. Pre-operative planning is always performed before starting the surgical process. AI in healthcare IT solutions can allow surgeons to use existing medical data/history for pre-operative planning.

• AI/ML algorithms can be used to identify anomalies like nausea, respiratory depression, organ failure, and more. By using the previous medical data, AI/ML algorithms can predict an anomaly in the patient. The surgeon can be notified in advance, and they can take proactive steps to treat the anomaly. Intra-operative guidance is very important for surgeons to offer the right care to the patient.

• Anyone’s hands can tremble during an intense or critical surgery. After all, surgeons are also humans and can feel emotions. With the help of AI/ML algorithms, surgical robotics is being used around the globe.

• Microsurgery can be performed using a mini-AI robot. AI/ML algorithms can also interrupt a surgery if it goes wrong. Healthcare service offerings can be available at all times with the help of new-age technologies.

• The need for manual labour in the healthcare industry can be reduced with the help of new-age technologies. Surgeons do not have to focus on redundant tasks like data accumulation, data exchange, pre-operative process, and many others.

Patient care technology and safety can offer high-end treatment without any errors. With the help of AI/ML algorithms, surgeons can boost the chances of a successful operative procedure. Start using AI-led systems and solutions for enhanced surgical practice in 2022!