Rhys Hibbert, 48, a resident of England, had been suffering partial vision loss caused by a tumour, but surgeons successfully removed the 11mm mass with the assistance of an innovative artificial intelligence system — ultimately saving his sight.
The tumour, discovered in 2024, was located in the patient’s pituitary gland, a marble-sized structure at the base of the brain surrounded by critical blood vessels, including the carotid arteries, and the optic nerves.
As the benign tumour pressed against those nerves, Hibbert began losing much of his peripheral vision, severely affecting his daily life and leaving him unable to walk without assistance.
According to The Guardian, the operation took place in May at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), part of University College London Hospitals.
The procedure was carried out by surgeons supported by an AI system that analysed live video footage of the operation in real time, colour-coding critical anatomical structures such as nerves and blood vessels to help the surgical team avoid them, the British newspaper reported.
Operating in such a densely packed region of the brain carries significant risk: a misplaced incision, even for a fraction of a second, can damage vital nerves or arteries, potentially causing permanent blindness or death, according to IFLScience.
Surgeons performing this type of procedure would typically study the patient’s brain imaging scans in advance to understand the local anatomy and plan the safest approach for removing the tumour.
Hibbert, however, volunteered to undergo the operation using the new AI model, which had been trained on surgical video footage and designed to identify at-risk areas, mapping the safest route for tumour extraction.
Developed by the UCL Hawkes Institute, the system provides real-time guidance to surgeons based on what is happening during the operation itself, reducing the team’s reliance solely on pre-operative scans.
‘By learning from hundreds of surgical videos, the system has been exposed to a diversity of cases that a surgeon would take many years to encounter,’ said Sophia Bano, the AI system’s technical lead, in a statement from UCL.
After physicians successfully removed the tumour, Hibbert noticed an immediate improvement in his vision. ‘When I woke up… I could see everything in the room clearly,’ he said.
‘I feel like I have a 360-degree panoramic view of everything around me,’ he added. According to Hibbert, within a week he was able to walk without glasses or a cane.
Despite this landmark application of AI in the operating theatre, the team behind the system has emphasised that it was humans who performed and controlled the surgery throughout. The technology served solely as a support tool, helping clinicians identify key brain structures with greater precision.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=536246
