• Question: Do you think algorithms can at one point replace surgeons because they can execute instructions to near-perfect precision? If so, which aspects might limit that? If not, why not?

    Asked by tortinoshotpizzarolls on 14 Jan 2020.
    • Photo: Sreejita Ghosh

      Sreejita Ghosh answered on 14 Jan 2020:


      I personally don’t think so, at least not based on even the perfect precision. In a surgery there are things more important than just being precise. Sometimes mid-way surgery surgeons find surprising complications or unexpected things inside the patient. At that point interdisciplinary medical knowledge and decision-making, along with empathy, is required for the ‘next step’. Wrt precision such robots exist already in the form of robotic arms ( https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/robotic-surgery/about/pac-20394974 ) .

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