The first use of artificial intelligence to support a neurosurgeon during live surgery has successfully protected the sight of a patient having a brain tumour removed. 

The surgery took place at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH), and was part of a clinical trial using AI technology that had been developed in-house at University College London (UCL).

During the operation, the UCL-developed AI analysed the live surgical video feed in real time, rather than using pre-surgery scans. This helped the surgical team to make more precise decisions by highlighting critical structures at the base of the patient’s brain. 

The tumour was located in the pituitary gland where blood vessels and nerves controlling vision are tightly packed together. The AI supported the surgical team to identify risky areas to avoid, while removing the tumour as safely as possible. 

Life-changing surgery

Rhys Hibbert, aged 48, from Bedfordshire, volunteered to be the first patient to have a pituitary tumour removed in this way. Without surgery, his tumour would have continued to threaten his sight, and could have ultimately led to blindness. 

His condition was discovered by chance when he collapsed during a walk and had a seizure. He was subsequently diagnosed with a tumour measuring around 11 millimetres in his pituitary gland. Over time, he began to experience increased problems with his sight and had lost his peripheral vision.

When waking from the surgery, he found his vision had dramatically improved as he could see everything in the operating theatre. Within a week, he was walking independently, without the need for vision aids. 

“Huge thanks to the trial participants and to the team committed to improving patient outcomes by taking this important first step globally and using UK homegrown AI to help reduce risk during these delicate surgeries,” said Hani Marcus, who performed this first AI-assisted surgery. He is professor of neurology at UCL Queen Square Institute of Technology and is a consultant neurosurgeon at NHNN.

The UK’s health innovation minister, James Frith, said the innovation “is an example of AI at its best”. Patients are “getting care previously deemed unimaginable thanks to the latest groundbreaking technology”, he added.