How Does AI Enable Personalized Surgical Approaches?

By Rasit Dinc

Introduction

The concept of personalized medicine, which tailors medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient, is rapidly extending into the surgical field. Personalized surgery aims to optimize surgical interventions for each patient's unique anatomy, pathology, and physiological characteristics. A key enabling technology in this transformation is Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is revolutionizing surgery by providing tools for more precise planning, enhanced intraoperative guidance, and improved postoperative care. This article explores how AI is enabling personalized surgical approaches, drawing on recent advancements in the field.

AI in Preoperative Planning

One of the most significant impacts of AI in surgery is in the preoperative planning phase. AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of patient data, including medical images (CT, MRI), genomic data, and electronic health records, to create patient-specific surgical plans. This allows surgeons to anticipate challenges, optimize surgical strategies, and minimize risks.

A groundbreaking development in this area is the use of digital twins. A digital twin is a dynamic virtual replica of a patient's anatomy and physiology [1]. By creating a digital twin, surgeons can simulate the entire surgical procedure before entering the operating room. This allows them to test different surgical approaches, identify potential complications, and select the optimal strategy for each patient. For example, in complex cancer surgeries, a digital twin can help surgeons determine the precise margins for tumor resection, ensuring complete removal of the cancerous tissue while preserving healthy surrounding tissue [2].

Furthermore, AI-powered risk assessment tools can predict the likelihood of postoperative complications based on a patient's individual risk factors. This information helps surgeons to make more informed decisions and to implement preventive measures to improve patient outcomes.

AI in Intraoperative Guidance

During surgery, AI provides real-time guidance and decision support to surgeons, enhancing their precision and accuracy. AI-powered systems can analyze live video feeds from surgical cameras and provide surgeons with real-time feedback on their performance. For instance, AI can track the movement of surgical instruments and alert the surgeon if they are approaching a critical structure, such as a major blood vessel or nerve.

AI also enhances surgical visualization. By overlaying 3D models of the patient's anatomy onto the surgical field, AI-powered augmented reality (AR) systems provide surgeons with "X-ray vision," allowing them to see through tissues and to navigate complex anatomical structures with greater confidence. This is particularly valuable in minimally invasive surgery, where the surgeon's field of view is limited.

Moreover, AI algorithms can analyze intraoperative data, such as tissue characteristics and blood flow, to provide real-time feedback on the progress of the surgery. This helps surgeons to make adjustments to their surgical plan as needed, ensuring the best possible outcome for the patient.

AI in Postoperative Care

The role of AI in personalized surgery extends to the postoperative period. AI-powered monitoring systems can continuously track a patient's vital signs and other physiological data, and alert the medical team to any signs of complications. This allows for early intervention and can help to prevent serious adverse events.

AI can also be used to create personalized rehabilitation plans for patients after surgery. By analyzing data on a patient's recovery progress, AI algorithms can tailor the rehabilitation program to the patient's individual needs, helping them to recover faster and to achieve a better functional outcome.

Benefits and Challenges

The benefits of AI-enabled personalized surgery are numerous. They include:

• Improved surgical outcomes: By optimizing surgical plans and providing real-time guidance, AI can help to reduce the risk of complications and to improve the overall success rate of surgical procedures.
• Reduced healthcare costs: By improving surgical efficiency and reducing the length of hospital stays, AI can help to lower the cost of surgical care.
• Enhanced patient safety: By providing surgeons with better tools for planning and executing surgical procedures, AI can help to improve patient safety.

Despite the many benefits, there are also challenges to the widespread adoption of AI in surgery. These include the need for large, high-quality datasets to train AI models, the ethical and legal implications of using AI in medical decision-making, and the need for surgeons to be trained in the use of these new technologies.

Conclusion

AI is a transformative technology that is poised to revolutionize the field of surgery. By enabling personalized surgical approaches, AI has the potential to improve surgical outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and enhance patient safety. While there are still challenges to be addressed, the future of surgery is undoubtedly intertwined with the continued development and integration of AI.

References

[1] Mekki, Y.M., Luijten, G., Hagert, E. et al. Digital twins for the era of personalized surgery. npj Digit. Med. 8, 283 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-01575-5

[2] Wah, J.N.K. The rise of robotics and AI-assisted surgery in modern healthcare. J Robot Surg 19, 311 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-025-02485-0