London surgeons perform world’s first AI-guided brain tumor removal

A 48-year-old British man has become the first patient in the world to undergo brain surgery guided by real-time artificial intelligence, in a procedure that saved his eyesight and marks a new frontier for the technology in the operating theater.

Rhys Hibbert, a father of two from Bedfordshire, had an 11mm tumor removed from his pituitary gland in May at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. The operation was disclosed on Thursday after his recovery.bbc+1

During the procedure, an AI system developed at University College London's Hawkes Institute analyzed a live endoscopic video feed, color-coding critical blood vessels and nerves to help surgeons navigate one of the brain's most confined spaces. In this region, the pituitary gland, carotid arteries, and optic nerves sit within millimeters of each other — and a small error can lead to blindness, stroke, or death.interestingengineering+1

"It is trained on more operations than most surgeons see or do in a lifetime and can act like an expert second pair of eyes," said Prof. Hani Marcus, the consultant neurosurgeon who performed the procedure alongside Dr. Danyal Khan.saudigazette+1

A Decade in Development

The system was trained on hundreds of annotated videos from previous pituitary tumor operations at the Hawkes Institute. Dr. Sophia Bano, associate professor in robotics and AI at UCL and technical lead on the project, said it can recognize critical anatomy, surgical instruments, and tissue interactions as an operation unfolds.people+1

The platform runs on NVIDIA's ↘ 1.51% Clara IGX hardware, designed for real-time medical AI applications. The trial was funded by the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Research and Google Alphabet Inc. ↘ 1.01%.interestingengineering+1

"It's Given Me My Life Back"

Hibbert was diagnosed with the benign tumor after collapsing during a walk in late 2024. His peripheral vision deteriorated steadily, and he began relying on walking sticks. When offered the chance to be the first patient, he agreed without hesitation. "If patients are not prepared to join research, how can doctors ever learn and how can medicine ever progress?" he said.bbc

The results were immediate. "When I opened my eyes after the operation, it felt like I had got 360-degree vision — I hadn't seen that clearly for a year," Hibbert said. Within a week, he could walk independently without glasses or a stick, and he has since returned to work.techspot+1

The surgical team emphasized that the AI serves only as an assistant — surgeons retain full control throughout. Their long-term ambition is to develop what Prof. Marcus called a "ChatGPT for surgeons": an expert second opinion available in the operating room that clinicians can consult or disregard as they see fit.saudigazette+1

James Frith, the UK's Health Innovation Minister, called it "an example of AI at its best: patients getting care previously deemed unimaginable thanks to the latest groundbreaking technology." The team is now preparing a larger clinical trial.people