Toronto doctor develops AI prototype to help reduce surgical complications
CBC
When Dr. Amin Madani isn't removing burst appendixes or excising cancerous cells from his patients, he's thinking about how to improve the performance of surgeons in the operating room.
That's because up to 25 per cent of the millions of people who undergo inpatient operations each year around the world experience negative complications either during or after surgery, according to the World Health Organization. These adverse affects can range from soreness at the incision site to internal bleeding to death.
Although not all of these adverse events are caused by the actions of surgeons, some are, and Madani — a general surgeon with the Sprott Department of Surgery at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto — wants to reduce that risk.
He was researching the techniques and thought processes used by the most elite, highest-skilled surgeons, when a group of data and computer scientists suggested he could use artificial intelligence (AI) to mimic their minds.
"I was a big skeptic, actually, for the longest time," Madani said. "That's a big statement to make."
The resulting collaboration produced a prototype that uses computer vision — a field of AI that trains computers to interpret and understand images — to identify in real time areas of an organ that are safe to dissect, and those where it is dangerous to do so.
WATCH | How artificial intelligence identifies safe dissection areas during gallbladder surgery:
It's part of a flurry of activity in recent years among researchers, health-care workers and companies who are attempting to harness the power of digital technology to provide better medical care.
Madani's technology is still in the early stages, and currently only applicable to gallbladder surgeries. But, he says it has the potential to improve surgery around the world, particularly in rural communities, remote areas and lower-income countries that lack surgical expertise.
Other experts agree, although they say there are still challenges to overcome before its potential can be realized.
When surgeons perform gallbladder removal surgery, they make a "keyhole incision" in the patient's stomach, insert a camera into the abdomen and use specialized tools to cut away and remove the organ.
Madani's technology projects coloured areas onto the video monitor the surgeon uses to see inside the patient's body. Green means that area of the organ is safe to cut, red means it's not.
Another iteration uses a heatmap-style projection that changes colour based on the model's confidence as to where the safe area is.
WATCH | Dr. Amin Madani explains how the prototype could help guide surgeons:
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Four in five of the wildfires so far in Saskatchewan this year have been caused by humans — the vast majority of them accidentally. But experts say part of the reason they've spread so far, so fast, is another human factor: climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels.
Just a block away from the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan there's a garden uniting green thumbs in Lloydminster.
Shelley Lindaas has long dreamed of seeing a Kermode bear cub in person.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) report outlining the events leading to the death of Erixon Kabera answered some questions for his family and friends, but many remain.
Syed Hassan says he doesn't like to complain much. But when his wife told him she got a parking ticket on Thursday night, he knew he needed to speak out.
Following the public outcry over the Jian Ghomeshi case, some legal scholars and sexual assault survivor advocates lauded changes made to the Criminal Code that would prevent defence lawyers from surprising complainants at trial with past emails or text messages with the defendant.
The Waterloo Region District School Board has been talking a lot about the word "family" this month.
At Pedro's Island Eatery in North Rustico, owner Pedro Gameiro has long been not a fan of using seed oils for frying
The parking lot of the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse was full on Friday, and the building surrounded by well-dressed young people and their proud families. Despite the smoky conditions in the city, there was much to celebrate.
Toronto has moved one step closer to allowing fiveplexes and sixplexes in neighbourhoods across the city.
Warning: Some readers may find photos in this story distressing.
Fifty years ago this fall the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States met in a castle outside Paris for three days of meetings, at the conclusion of which they issued the Declaration of Rambouillet, a 15-point statement of principles and commitments.
An Iranian woman living in Newfoundland and Labrador says she's watching attacks between Israel and Iran with worry for her family back home.