Current application of artificial intelligence in laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have sparked a surge in the application of computer vision (CV) in surgical video analysis. Surgical complications often occur due to lapses in judgment and decision-making. In laparoscopic cholecystectomy, achievement of the critical view of safety is commonly advocated to prevent bile duct injuries. However, bile duct injuries rates remain stable, probably due to inconsistent application or a poor understanding of critical view of safety. Advances in AI have made it possible to train algorithms that identify anatomy and interpret the surgical field. AI-based CV techniques may leverage surgical video data to develop real-time automated decision support tools and surgeon training systems. The effectiveness of CV application in surgical procedures is still under early evaluation. The review considers the commonly used deep learning algorithms in CV and describes their usage in detail in four application scenes, including phase recognition, anatomy detection, instrument detection and action recognition in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The MedLine, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore databases were searched for publications up to 2024. The keywords used in the search were “laparoscopic cholecystectomy”, “artificial intelligence”. The currently described applications of CV in laparoscopic cholecystectomy are limited. Most current research focus on the identification of workflow and anatomical structure, while the identification of instruments and surgical actions is still awaiting further breakthroughs. Future research on the use of CV in laparoscopic cholecystectomy should focus on application in more scenarios, such as surgeon skill assessment and the development of more efficient models.