IoMT to be the missing link for automation of OTs

2021 brought in a new era for MedTech. Surgical technology has grown by leaps and bounds, matching the pace of the evolution of computing technology. For ages now, there have been discussions on AI, robotics, etc. The future of surgery is bound to be different and safer because, with AI and robotics, surgeons would be able to rely on experience banks filled with data, encompassing decades of experience of hundreds or thousands of doctors, analytics concluding on the best course of action.

Even if independent decision-making by AIs in the operation theater seems like a farfetched concept, AI and robotics on paper seem like a tool that effectively eliminates the risks in surgery. However, alone they seem like a tool with a handicap and this is probably why these technologies are still referred to as future technologies, despite the present being more than capable of making it a success.

The one thing that 2021 saw entering the future technologies was the amalgamation of data into the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). IoMT is a technology that can efficiently link these two technologies taking Medtech into the future.

IoMT is the network of internet-connected medical devices, hardware infrastructure, and software applications, used to connect healthcare information technology. Clubbed together with the decision-making capacities of machine learning and the learning capacities of artificial intelligence along with the precision of robotics, this could build the operation theater of the future.

There are tools like syringe pumps that are used to deliver small doses of medication from a variety of syringe sizes in acute care settings, cardiac event monitor, which is a device that you control to record the electrical activity of your heart (ECG), a defibrillator, which is a device that gives a high-energy electric shock to the heart of someone who is in cardiac arrest, C-Arm machine that categorizes itself as an advanced medical imaging device that works on the basic premise of the X-ray technology, anesthesia machine that is a medical device used to generate and mix a fresh gas flow of medical gases and inhalational anesthetic agents to induce and maintain anesthesia. Such tools, when linked to IoMT could greatly reduce the risks involved in a surgery.

IoMT is a technology that could increase the efficiency, with which a surgery is performed to the extent that goes beyond human capabilities. Increasing the precision of the way surgery is performed could help save more lives. There is always a risk of death due to the procedure or anesthesia that is given during the procedure.

Perioperative mortality has been defined as any death, regardless of cause, occurring within 30 days after surgery in or out of the hospital. Globally, 4.2 million people are estimated to die within 30 days of surgery each year. Perioperative mortality is a term that aptly signifies the risks that go hand in hand with surgery. In most such cases, medical error is touted to be the major factor behind such deaths; however often, the medical error is due to not being made aware of appropriate and relevant information.

For example, a particular anesthesia may be harmful to a person due to a reason that can be easily overlooked, and thus is not informed about to the concerned people; as a result, they end up not taking the necessary precaution, which leads to the creation of unnecessary risk and, in a worse situation, leading to death.

IoMT could link multiple data banks and multiple devices, bypassing risks created due to such avoidable situations. IoMT could also use access to those data banks to devise the best course of action, selecting the best option to ensure risk minimization.

Sometimes, it becomes necessary to take a risk to save a life, keeping the final decision in human hands, and utilizing technology as a support tool would increase the probability of the risk paying off, saving a life as a result.