Description
A medical lecture by Simon Hughes on artificial intelligence in spinal oncology and spinal surgery. He explains basic AI concepts, including machine learning, deep learning, narrow vs general AI, and the history of AI development. He then discusses how AI is being applied pre-operatively, intra-operatively, and post-operatively to improve imaging, tumor detection, 3D reconstruction, risk stratification, robotic-assisted surgery, augmented reality, outcome prediction, rehabilitation planning, and complication monitoring. He also covers key limitations such as poor data quality, lack of transparency in black-box models, overreliance on technology, and governance and ethics concerns. In the conclusion and Q&A, he argues that AI is already changing surgical practice, especially patient selection and decision support, but remains an adjunct rather than a replacement for clinicians, with future progress dependent on ethical implementation, regulation, and multimodal data integration.
DOI: 10.1302/3114-261311