2023-07-14 15:00:36
Digital, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, immersive technologies, metaverse. These will be, not replacing the doctor, but alongside him, “the weapons of the future against colorectal cancer, which with 48,000 new cases a year is the second most frequent tumor in our country and also the second among the deadliest with over 21,000 deaths a year (data from the Veronesi Foundation)”. This was underlined by the Italian and European surgeons who gathered in Verona for the international rectal cancer surgery congress organized by the General Surgery of the Irccs Sacro Cuore Don Calabria of Negrar, directed by Giacomo Ruffo. “Even for the most locally advanced neoplasms – the experts point out – surgery is indicated as a cure. The survival rate after 5 years is over 60%, thanks to screening programs and the evolution of surgical techniques with the support of new technologies”.
“To deal with colorectal cancer, surgeons rely and will increasingly rely on digital technology”, highlight the specialists. “AI can guide the choice of interventions, augmented reality can make them more effective and the metaverse can improve the training of surgeons, but also increase the quality of interventions and patients’ access to care”, they explain. “Naturally, technology remains at the service of the surgeon – Ruffo points out – which it can never replace and which is always responsible for interpreting the information received from the various technological supports”.
“Artificial intelligence can be applied to colorectal surgery at various stages before, during and after operations – explains the expert – For example, it can be useful for the training of surgeons through the use of virtual assistants who can support doctors by providing educational materials or even using augmented reality technologies that can design clinical scenarios for surgical simulations that integrate medical images and electronic medical records.An example is radiomics, where diagnostic images are analyzed by AI that is able to process an enormous amount of data produced by CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging. This makes it possible to obtain information capable of predicting whether or not a tumor may respond successfully or not to a given therapy, allowing the patient to immediately access the most suitable treatment”. Furthermore, “advanced analysis of clinical data with artificial intelligence methodologies improves colorectal surgery, for example reducing the incidence rate of post-operative complications by up to 6%”.
“Artificial intelligence – continue the ‘green coats’ – is becoming an increasingly important tool also in surgery and predictive models and intraoperative applications are paving the way towards personalized surgery, increasingly thanks to the use of robots. The European Union’s Smart Autonomous Robotic Assistant Surgeon (SARAS) project, for example, is developing the next generation of surgical robotic systems that will allow a single surgeon to perform minimally invasive robotic surgery without the need for an experienced surgical assistant. today robotic surgery, with 1.5 million procedures worldwide, is widely used, but the average growth rates are 17% per year: AI algorithms are a fundamental part of the development of robotics because they help to recognize healthy and diseased tissues with greater accuracy and will help make robotics ever more accurate and reproducible, giving surgeons ‘super-ability’ to perform their tasks.”
Immersive technologies and augmented reality also enter the operating room. “With the dedicated viewers that allow you to immerse yourself in the three-dimensional virtual metaverse, for example – reports Ruffo – it is possible to connect and share content from anywhere in the world to break down the barriers of distance, allowing greater equality of access to treatment for patients who live even in the most remote areas, far from hospitals and centers of reference.In the metaverse, surgeons can then ‘train’ on specific virtual models created starting from the anatomical and clinical data of the individual case, improving their skills without jeopardizing safety of the patient, but above all the diagnostic accuracy and surgical quality.Augmented reality is already showing today, albeit in limited cases, a good ability to improve oncological outcomes thanks to greater customization of the intervention, the optimal three-dimensional vision and a dramatic improvement in surgical training. When used with patients preoperatively, it can even reduce preoperative anxiety.”
“The metaverse will also be able to reduce the costs of providing care, medical training and data management, creating new opportunities for archiving, sharing and accessing the data itself. But it will also be a precious opportunity for prevention”, points out the specialist. It was exploited by the Korean Society of Coloproctology, which last year launched an awareness campaign on colorectal cancer aimed at young people in the metaverse to raise awareness on the subject. “An important goal – comments Ruffo – given that the incidence of this tumor increases by about 2% per year in people aged 50 or younger, especially in women, and by 1% per year in those between the ages of 50 and 64, while it decreases in those ages 65 and older.Early onset patients also more often have advanced disease, 27% have distant metastases compared to 21% of older patients Providing information, also exploiting digital channels such as the metaverse most used by younger age groups, is therefore useful and necessary”.
#Colorectal #cancer #radiomics #metaverse #diagnosis #treatment