This virus has held global healthcare delivery at a standstill for over 18 months, despite the promising vaccine roll-out. The U.S. "passed the hospital breaking point" in December, as a headline in The Atlantic put it. Rochelle Walensky of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that a recent increase in coronavirus cases could herald a "fourth surge." If we do not act quickly to resolve the situation, the result could be thousands of untimely deaths. In just one example, clinicians around the world are using artificial intelligence auto-contouring tech to automate and optimize the time-consuming task of pinpointing organs at risk.

Royal Cornwall Hospital has deployed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that allows clinicians to view case videos safely and securely. Touch Surgery Enterprise enables automatic processing and viewing of surgical videos for clinicians and their teams without compromising sensitive patient data. These videos can be accessed via mobile app or web shortly after the operation to encourage self-reflection, peer review and improve preoperative preparation. In a usual hospital setting, surgical videos are often left unused due to the vast amounts of sensitive patient data they contain, according to Digital Surgery, the company behind Touch Surgery Enterprise. But the company's hardware, the DS1 computer, plugs into existing recording equipment in a theatre and runs real-time artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to redact all frames containing potentially identifiable patient and clinician information.

From the moment you step into the offices of Babylon Health in London's swanky South Kensington, you feel like you're in the future. Only it's a future that smells remarkably like the past. I'm reminded of the first open plan space I ever saw at a London newspaper -- only Babylon's is lined with plastic plants that crawl from the desks to the ceiling -- and I kind of preferred that grey honesty of old. There's a huge heart on the front glass door, but very little heart in the waiting area, where they have done away with receptionists and you're asked instead to sign in via a tablet. Around you, adults in suits perch and slouch on colorful cubes that would fit quite well in the kids' play area at your local general practitioner's.

Digital Surgery, a health tech startup based in London, today launched what it's calling the world's first dynamic artificial intelligence (AI) system designed for the operating room. The reference tool helps support surgical teams through complex medical procedures -- cofounder and former plastic surgeon Jean Nehme described it as a "Google Maps" for surgery. "What we've done is applied artificial intelligence … to procedures … created with surgeons globally," he told VentureBeat in a phone interview. "We're leveraging data with machine learning to build a [predictive] system." Well-funded hospital systems have shown an interest in automation.

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Digital Surgery, a health tech company shaping the future of surgery through the convergence of surgical expertise and technology, today announced it has developed and successfully demonstrated the world's first real-time, dynamic artificial intelligence (AI) system designed for the operating room (OR). The company is building the data to power the future of surgery through its world-class and proprietary surgical procedure road maps, which aim to aid the surgical team in the OR, reducing risk and making surgery safer. Digital Surgery is the first patented AI platform bringing this scale of knowledge to the surgical community. "This is a huge milestone for the future of surgery because it lays the foundation for how AI and computer vision will support surgical teams to deliver safer surgeries. It also enables the next generation of robotic surgery, giving these future systems the capability to function more intelligently and safely," said Dr. Jean Nehme MD, co-founder and CEO of Digital Surgery.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digital Surgery, a health tech company shaping the future of surgery through the convergence of surgical expertise and technology, today announced it has developed and successfully demonstrated the world's first real-time, dynamic artificial intelligence (AI) system designed for the operating room (OR). The company is building the data to power the future of surgery through its world-class and proprietary surgical procedure road maps, which aim to aid the surgical team in the OR, reducing risk and making surgery safer. Digital Surgery is the first patented AI platform bringing this scale of knowledge to the surgical community. "This is a huge milestone for the future of surgery because it lays the foundation for how AI and computer vision will support surgical teams to deliver safer surgeries. It also enables the next generation of robotic surgery, giving these future systems the capability to function more intelligently and safely," said Dr. Jean Nehme MD, co-founder and CEO of Digital Surgery.