Revolutionizing patient care: the harmonious blend of artificial intelligence and surgical tradition

Surgery has undergone remarkable evolution over the past decades, propelled by unprecedented technological advancement. Despite these changes, the role of surgeons and their irreplaceable qualities remains pivotal. This article delves into the intersection of surgery and artificial intelligence (AI), underscoring the enduring significance of human expertise and values. The potential of AI to learn and improve over time holds great promise for enhancing various facets of surgery, including diagnostics, personalized treatment, preoperative planning, real-time support in the operating room, and comprehensive postoperative analytics of the outcome. However, it is essential to emphasize the continued importance of the surgeon's role to uphold universal surgical principles. This includes a commitment to minimalism and the use of evidence-based practice, ensuring optimal outcomes and standardized procedures. By recognizing the synergies between AI and traditional surgical approaches, we can navigate the evolving landscape of surgery to achieve the highest standards of patient care.

Changes in Oncological Surgical Principles Driven by Advances in Preoperative Treatments

From a surgical point of view, the development of preoperative oncological treatment has had a profound effect on the surgical treatment trends of cancer as well as on the outcomes of cancer patients. Consequently, these changes have challenged formerly entrenched oncological surgical principles. In our short report, we aimed to summarize the main shifts regarding the surgical principles of cancer treatment due to the development of preoperative oncological therapy in recent years. As a result of successful preoperative treatment, surgeons may perform less radical surgeries, the required free resection margin has been narrowed down to a few millimeters in dimension and preoperative treatment is justified in both definitely resectable tumors and in oligometastatic tumors as well. For prognosis assessment, the post-preoperative oncological treatment stage is now considered decisive, rather than the pretreatment stage as previously thought. Other changes include the introduction of the watch and wait strategy and the reverse order of treatment of the primary tumor and metastasis. Observing the continuously improving outcomes of cancer patients and the developments in oncological treatment modalities, a further expansion of the indication of preoperative treatments is to be expected.

AHNS Series: Do you know your guidelines? Principles of surgery for head and neck cancer: A review of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines

This article continues a series developed by the American Head and Neck Society's Education Committee entitled "Do you know your guidelines?" It is hoped that these features will increase awareness of and adherence to current best practices in head and neck cancer care. In this installment, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for surgical therapy are reviewed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 791-796, 2017.