Inteligência Artificial na Cirurgia Geral: Aplicações, Desafios e Perspetivas Futuras

Abstract

Artificial intelligence has significantly impacted the medical-surgical field. It assists surgeons in preoperative planning, surgical procedures, and training, ensuring high-quality patient care and improved clinical outcomes. Integrating artificial intelligence into robotic platforms enhances their precision and safety, driving the field of minimally invasive surgery toward more intelligent and collaborative robotic systems. Furthermore, this synergy between artificial intelligence and robotics, combined with advancements in 5G networks, strengthens telesurgery, helping to reduce disparities in access to specialized healthcare and fostering multidisciplinary collaboration on a global scale. In general surgery, artificial intelligence has been applied through machine learning and deep learning, as well as advanced methods such as convolutional neural networks, computer vision, natural language processing, and autonomous robotics. These technologies provide better surgical support, greater precision, reduced workload, standardized outcomes, and fewer complications, establishing themselves as essential tools for enhanced and personalized decision-making. Despite its apparent benefits, adopting artificial intelligence in general surgery still faces significant challenges, including ethical, regulatory, technical, and acceptance-related issues within the surgical community. This narrative review explores the applications of artificial intelligence throughout the perioperative period and in surgical training, highlighting its benefits, challenges, and existing gaps in the literature. Thus, with continuous investment, multidisciplinary collaboration, and well-defined strategies, artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize general surgery and provide greater efficiency, safety, and accessibility in the future.