Opportunities and Considerations for the Incorporation of Artificial Intelligence into Global Neurosurgery: A Generative Pretrained Transformer Chatbot-Based Approach

Authors

Nathan A. Shlobin, Department of Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Electronic address: nathan.shlobin@northwestern.edu.
Gail Rosseau, Department of Neurosurgery, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Barrow Global, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Document Type

Article

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Global neurosurgery is a public health focus in neurosurgery that seeks to ensure safe, timely, and affordable neurosurgical care to all individuals worldwide. Although investigators have begun to explore the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) for neurosurgery, its applicability to global neurosurgery has been largely hypothetical. We characterize opportunities and considerations for the incorporation of AI into global neurosurgery by synthesizing key themes yielded from a series of generative pretrained transformers (GPTs), discuss important limitations of GPTs and cautions when using AI in neurosurgery, and develop a framework for the equitable incorporation of AI into global neurosurgery. METHODS: ChatGPT, Bing Chat/Copilot, You, Perplexity.ai, and Google Bard were queried with the prompt "How can AI be incorporated into global neurosurgery?" A layered ChatGPT-based thematic analysis was performed. The authors synthesized the results into opportunities and considerations for the incorporation of AI in global neurosurgery. A Pareto analysis was conducted to determine common themes. RESULTS: Eight opportunities and 14 important considerations were synthesized. Six opportunities related to patient care, 1 to education, and another to public health planning. Four of the important considerations were deemed specific to global neurosurgery. The Pareto analysis included all 8 opportunities and 5 considerations. CONCLUSIONS: AI may be incorporated into global neurosurgery in a variety of capacities requiring numerous considerations. The framework presented in this manuscript may facilitate the incorporation of AI into global neurosurgery initiatives while balancing contextual factors and the reality of limited resources.

Medical Subject Headings

Artificial Intelligence; Humans; Neurosurgery; Global Health; Neurosurgical Procedures (methods)

Publication Date

6-1-2024

Publication Title

World neurosurgery

E-ISSN

1878-8769

Volume

186

First Page

e398

Last Page

e412

PubMed ID

38561032

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1016/j.wneu.2024.03.149

Recommended Citation

Shlobin, Nathan A. and Rosseau, Gail, "Opportunities and Considerations for the Incorporation of Artificial Intelligence into Global Neurosurgery: A Generative Pretrained Transformer Chatbot-Based Approach" (2024). Neurosurgery. 2043.
https://scholar.barrowneuro.org/neurosurgery/2043