UK surgeons have used a new AI-powered tool for the first time.
The Eureka system colour-codes body parts to help doctors protect or dissect specific anatomical regions during surgery.
Developed by doctors in Japan, the portable AI unit was trained on thousands of surgical procedure videos and was used on a UK patient for the first time.
Anaut Inc is the medical technology company behind this global pioneer in AI-assisted surgical visualisation.
It analyses live surgical video at the pixel level in real time, helping surgeons recognise surgically critical anatomical structures that can vary from one patient to another.
Its visual guidance supports recognition of tissue planes, loose connective tissue, nerves, and pancreatic anatomy while remaining true to the natural anatomy of the operative field.
By enhancing the surgical view, EUREKA is intended to support intra-operative orientation and dissection by helping physicians recognise surgical planes and anatomy.
The UK patient – a woman in her 60s – underwent a bowel resection at St Mark’s, the National Bowel Hospital in northwest London, according to Ella Pickover and James Manning at PA Media.
Kapil Sahnan led the operation. He is a consultant surgeon at St Mark’s Hospital, London, specialising in inflammatory bowel disease, complex proctology, and robotic surgery. He trained as a surgeon in Oxford, Bristol, and London, and completed an ESCP/Intuitive-accredited robotic surgery fellowship at the Hospital del Val d’Hebron in Barcelona.
He coordinates work with industry partners on the latest ground-breaking research to improve patient outcomes.
He told PA that efforts are now underway to determine how surgeons can demonstrate the benefits of real-time mapping and to begin rolling it out to ‘make surgery for everybody a lot safer’.
The system was pioneered in Tokyo by surgeon Dr Nao Kobayashi in collaboration with more than 20 Japanese academic research institutions and medical university hospitals.
