Brain and spinal cord surgery using AI robots

Diseases such as brain tumors, spinal cord tumors, and cerebral hemorrhagic strokes belong to the dangerous group, seriously affecting health and can cause death.

On December 19, Chu Tan Si, MSc.B.C.CKII, Head of the Department of Neurosurgery, Center for Neuroscience, Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, said that with traditional surgical techniques, before the surgeries brain, doctors only saw discrete tumors, hematomas and nerve conduction bundles on each separate image. The doctor cannot clearly see the tumor or hematoma during the surgery, manipulating the patient’s brain based on experience and judgment. Traditional surgical methods, using a microsurgical microscope without integrated AI, can still remove lesions in the patient’s brain and spinal cord, but the level of invasiveness is high. The surgeon cannot locate a safe surgical incision first, with a high risk of damaging nerve fiber bundles, healthy brain structures or rupturing large blood vessels.

“Patients are at risk of neurological function defects, severe sequelae, and possibly death in the operating room,” Dr. Tan said, adding that today, artificial intelligence (AI) helps doctors “escape scene” surgery based on experience or learned anatomical theory.

AI is currently integrated into modern devices such as the Modus V Synaptive brain surgery robot, Neuro-Navigation Curve neural positioning, the new generation BrainLAB combined with the K.Zeiss Kinevo 900 microsurgical microscope with 3D fluorescence imaging feature, Overcoming the disadvantages of traditional brain surgery techniques. AI robots can image CT, MRI, DTI, DSA… on the same high-resolution 3D image, helping doctors clearly see tumors and hematomas in relation to healthy structures and other diseases. surrounding nerve fiber bundles. From there, the AI ​​robot allows surgeons to simulate surgery on specialized software, actively choosing the location to open the skull and the safe access route inside the brain, avoiding damaging healthy structures.

AI assisted doctors at Tam Anh General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City to successfully perform many surgeries for brain tumors, spinal cord tumors, and cerebral hemorrhagic strokes in recent times.

For example, Hoang, 18 years old, went to the doctor because of a headache. The results of a 1975 CT scan revealed a 4 cm brain tumor. The tumor’s location is deep in the ventricles, causing great compression and displacement of healthy brain structures, blood vessels and neighboring nerve fiber bundles, risking blindness and hemorrhagic stroke.

Another case is Ms. Diem, 63 years old, who came to Tam Anh hospital for examination due to unsteady walking. The results of a 3 Tesla MRI scan showed an intramedullary tumor at thoracic vertebra D4, 3 cm in size, pushing the entire spinal cord completely to the left, risking leg paralysis.

After an in-depth multi-specialty consultation, doctors decided to operate to remove Hoang’s brain tumor and Ms. Diem’s ​​spinal cord tumor using the AI ​​Modus V Synaptive robot and the AI ​​Neuro-Navigation Curve neural navigation system, BrainLAB. In Ms. Diem’s ​​case, the intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring system (IONM) was also combined, helping to accurately identify nerve fiber bundles around the intramedullary tumor.

Before the official surgery, the surgical team simulated the surgery on AI robot software. With the support of AI, the doctor can clearly see the patient’s brain structure and spinal cord, thereby planning the surgical location, access route, dissection, and safe tumor removal.

From pre-planned data from the simulated surgery, all operations of the doctor during the official surgery are closely monitored by the AI ​​robot arm system, continuously moving automatically and giving warning signals. The purpose is to ensure that the official surgery is conducted according to the initial plan established at the previous simulated surgery.

When approaching the tumor, the doctor used the Cusa ultrasonic suction removal system to crush, reduce the size, suction and completely remove the brain tumor and spinal cord tumor for two patients. Thanks to this, patients avoid the risk of tumor recurrence and recover from the disease.

Postoperatively, the two patients recovered to good health, with no complications or post-operative sequelae, and no neurological deficits. The patient walks, talks, eats… almost normally, and is discharged from the hospital after a week of treatment.

Doctor Tan Si said that brain and spinal cord surgery with the support of modern equipment integrated with AI helps the team operate quickly and can shorten the time to perform the surgery by about half an hour to an hour compared to the traditional method. Traditional surgery. The surgery is minimally invasive, has small incisions, leaves little scarring, but is most effective in removing the lesion size. Patients have the ability to recover quickly after surgery, shorten hospital stay, and save treatment costs.