SDSC’s Data Science Roundtable with Dr. Ronald Barbosa – a board-certified trauma and critical care surgeon – has surfaced a compelling call to action: AI in surgery must begin by understanding and measuring the technical skills that make surgeons great. Despite rigorous board certification processes, foundational techniques like suturing, tissue handling, and knot tying are not formally evaluated, and remain unquantified in training and practice. As more procedures shift to robotic, laparoscopic, and microscopic techniques, the opportunities to gather quantifiable metrics are growing.
Dr. Barbosa outlined key challenges: how to quantify tension on tissue, track needle curvature adherence, or assess knot quality in real time. He emphasized the need for AI systems that can detect subtle errors – like excessive force or poor following of needle curvature – that even experienced surgeons might miss. He posed innovative questions regarding the hundreds of individual maneuvers made during surgery: can we develop metrics for traction and counter-traction? Can we track left-hand efficiency? Can real-time feedback optimize performance mid-surgery?
Ultimately, Dr. Barbosa made the case that collaboration between clinicians and technologists is essential. To build intelligent tools that enhance, not just automate, surgical care, we must first understand the intricate, often invisible maneuvers that define surgical excellence. The talk was a call to reimagine surgical data science from the ground up.
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