Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things in the Neurosurgical Operating Theater

Abstract

The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technology in neurosurgery offers the opportunity to advance clinical practice significantly, pushing the limits of diagnostics, decision making, and prognostication, and allowing more accurate interventions to be performed with fewer errors. AI and machine learning offer the potential for automation. In addition, owing to the broad distribution of powerful, portable wearables and wireless devices, the development of learning-based IoT applications for medical usage has been accelerated, providing real-time monitoring and potentially streamlining complicated procedures, thus saving the surgeon’s time. Together, the exploitation of AI along with IoT big data technologies, and cloud computing, have introduced the highly advanced networked surgical operating room, the Smart Cyber Operating Theater (SCOT). The work presented in this chapter reviews the basic concepts of AI and IoT, their application in neurosurgery and the neurosurgical operating theater, and recent trends. Their current and future perspectives are also discussed to assess their effect on clinical practice and surgical precision objectively.