A British man has become the first patient in the world to have a brain tumour removed in a surgery assisted by artificial intelligence (AI), stopping him from going blind.
According to Manchester Evening, Rhys Hibbert had a tumour on his brain's pituitary gland, a part of the brain where blood vessels and nerves controlling vision are tightly packed together.
Medics said “going a millimetre wrong can make a critical difference.”
Surgeons therefore operated on the 48-year-old using new technology which helps identify miniscule anatomy in the brain by colour coding, or segmenting, important structures to help surgeons recognise them safely.
Medics at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), part of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, have been using the technology as a research tool for some time, but the operation on Rhys was the first time it has been used on a patient.
AI-assisted brain surgery save sight
Rhys, from Bedfordshire, said the operation saved his sight and he is now back at work as a customer services manager and a community volunteer. Without it, the tumour could have caused him to be blind.
During the operation, the AI analysed the live surgical feed in real time to highlight structures of the brain. The technology highlighted which areas to avoid while removing the tumour.
Rhys, who was diagnosed in 2024, said, “The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery was founded in 1859… and was the world’s first dedicated neurosurgical hospital."
"So to me, it seems very fitting that the same hospital should also be the world’s first to carry out an AI-assisted neurosurgery," he added.
The AI was developed “in house” at the UCL Hawkes Institute and was trained using hundreds of videos of brain surgeries.
