• Layard HorsfallHugoHDepartment of Neurosurgery, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences, University College, London, United Kingdom. Elect, Paolo Palmisciano, Danyal Z Khan, William Muirhead, Chan Hee Koh, Danail Stoyanov, and Hani J Marcus.
• Department of Neurosurgery, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences, University College, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Hugo.layardhorsfall@ucl.ac.uk.
• World Neurosurg. 2021 Feb 1; 146: e724e730e724-e730.

BackgroundArtificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to disrupt how we diagnose and treat patients. Previous work by our group has demonstrated that the majority of patients and their relatives feel comfortable with the application of AI to augment surgical care. The aim of this study was to similarly evaluate the attitudes of surgeons and the wider surgical team toward the role of AI in neurosurgery.MethodsIn a 2-stage cross sectional survey, an initial open-question qualitative survey was created to determine the perspective of the surgical team on AI in neurosurgery including surgeons, anesthetists, nurses, and operating room practitioners. Thematic analysis was performed to develop a second-stage quantitative survey that was distributed via social media. We assessed the extent to which they agreed and were comfortable with real-world AI implementation using a 5-point Likert scale.ResultsIn the first-stage survey, 33 participants responded. Six main themes were identified: imaging interpretation and preoperative diagnosis, coordination of the surgical team, operative planning, real-time alert of hazards and complications, autonomous surgery, and postoperative management and follow-up. In the second stage, 100 participants responded. Responders somewhat agreed or strongly agreed about AI being used for imaging interpretation (62%), operative planning (82%), coordination of the surgical team (70%), real-time alert of hazards and complications (85%), and autonomous surgery (66%). The role of AI within postoperative management and follow-up was less agreeable (49%).ConclusionsThis survey highlights that the majority of surgeons and the wider surgical team both agree and are comfortable with the application of AI within neurosurgery.Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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