New AI tool which colour-codes the human body during surgery used in UK for the first time

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Medics at St Mark’s, the National Bowel Hospital, used the technology to operate on a patient in her 60s on Thursday.

The tool, which is used alongside robotic or laparoscopic surgery, highlights different parts of the anatomy in real time on a screen, helping surgeons as they protect or dissect certain parts of the body during operations.

For instance, connective tissue could be highlighted in turquoise, nerves in green, and other parts of the anatomy in other colours.

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Experts said the portable AI unit, known as the Eureka system, helps precision, efficiency and safety.

The operation on Thursday was the first time it has been used in the UK and was also the first time that it has been used during surgery outside Japan, where it originated.

The patient, who has not been named, received a bowel resection at the hospital, which is part of London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust.

Consultant surgeon Mr Kapil Sahnan described the tool as an “extra helping arm” that helps “look at your live surgery and start telling you which are the hidden structures which perhaps you can’t see”.

Mr Sahnan said: “The hope and the idea being is, that if you can identify these, that the operation becomes safer, you have this kind of extra helping arm with artificial intelligence running at the same time as your surgery, preventing errors and making everything a lot more safe.

“And we were the first hospital in the world outside of Japan to use it.”

He added: “Another way of thinking about it is, I remember that my mother used to use an A to Z when she had to plan routes.

“Now we all use Google Maps and Waze. And this is that version of kind of navigation that now has been applied to surgery.

“The difference has been that real time aspect, so you can see it at the same time as you’re operating.

“The idea being is you want to prevent any errors happening before they do, and one way to do that is use, not human intelligence but intelligence, which has been derived from thousands and thousands and thousands of operative videos where people have gone through and labelled things.”

He added: “You get these really beautiful images, they put colour overlays over the operative images, which can either be on constantly, or they can pulse.”