Ireland’s first Digital Surgery Unit was officially opened at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital on Thursday 25th July 2019. Led by Professor Ronan Cahill, UCD Full Professor of Surgery at the Mater Hospital, this Unit aims to break new medical ground through world-class research into future modes of human-machine collaboration in the surgical theatre.
By researching the integration of medicine with new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), and by including data analysts as part of surgical teams, this work aims to create new ways to support surgeons to make better decisions, thus promising better outcomes for patients.
More broadly, this research is intended to contribute to a deeper bank of knowledge which can then be used to improve the patient experience for the next person undergoing such surgery. This project builds on the field-leading surgical practice which is already established at the Mater, where enhanced digital visualisation assists in precision and safety in colorectal cancer surgery. Personalising operations in this way has already resulted in better care for patients.
Colorectal surgery and cancer are the initial focus of the Digital Surgery Unit. Each year in Ireland, more than 2,700 men and women are diagnosed with colorectal cancer, making it the second most common cancer after breast cancer for women, and the second most common cancer after prostate cancer for men. Surgery is the best chance of cure for this cancer; however, surgery has some potential dangers given the risks of infection post-surgery and also risks of damage to important organs such as the bladder or reproductive organs.
The research team, made up of collaborators from UCD, the Mater Hospital, RCSI and IBM Research Ireland, brings together leading research expertise in medicine, dye chemistry, computer science and mathematics with surgical excellence in the Mater. Currently, safe medical dyes, amplified by a surgical video camera, are used to help the surgical team assess the health of tissues surrounding a cancerous area. The next step is augmented cancer tissue identification and comprehension for improved precision in excision, which will help in the repair of the bowel after its removal. The research team will investigate bio-physical models, applied mathematics, video analytics and AI alongside novel dye technologies to progress real-time assistive technologies for improved, individualised precision during surgery.
The Digital Surgery Unit is funded through a government grant from the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund. €5.7 million is being made available from the government to support this study entitled “The Future of Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment” with a further €2 million coming from industry.