Digital twin assisted surgery, concept, opportunities, and challenges

Lisa Asciak; Justicia Kyeremeh; Xichun Luo; Asimina Kazakidi; Patricia Connolly; Frederic Picard; Kevin O'Neill; Sotirios A. Tsaftaris; Grant D. Stewart; Wenmiao Shu

doi:10.1038/s41746-024-01413-0

Digital twin assisted surgery, concept, opportunities, and challenges

Lisa Asciak, Justicia Kyeremeh, Xichun Luo, Asimina Kazakidi, Patricia Connolly, Frederic Picard, Kevin O'Neill, Sotirios A. Tsaftaris, Grant D. Stewart, Wenmiao Shu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

39 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Computer-assisted surgery is becoming essential in modern medicine to accurately plan, guide, and perform surgeries. Similarly, Digital Twin technology is expected to be instrumental in the future of surgery, owing to its capacity to virtually replicate patient-specific interventions whilst providing real-time updates to clinicians. This perspective introduces the term Digital Twin-Assisted Surgery and discusses its potential to improve surgical precision and outcome, along with key challenges for successful clinical translation.

Original language	English
Article number	32
Number of pages	8
Journal	npj Digital Medicine
Volume	8
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-024-01413-0
Publication status	Published - 15 Jan 2025

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, EP/X033686/1, EP/W004860/1, EP/T024844/1). The funder played no role in the conceptualisation and writing of this manuscript. GDS is supported by The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research (RG95043), the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre (C9685/A25177 and CTRQQR-2021\100012) and NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR203312). The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

Keywords

computer-assisted surgery
digital twin technology
surgical precision
surgery outcome

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1038/s41746-024-01413-0Licence: CC BY 4.0

Asciak-etal-2025-npj-DM-Digital-twin-assisted-surgeryFinal published version, 925 KBLicence: CC BY 4.0

1 Active
2 Finished

Real-time Digital Twin Assisted Surgery (DTAS)
Shu, W. (Principal Investigator), Kazakidi, A. (Co-investigator), Luo, X. (Co-investigator), Connolly, P. (Co-investigator), Stewart, G. D. (Co-investigator), Tsaftaris, S. (Co-investigator) & O'Neil, K. (Co-investigator)
1/09/23 → 31/08/27
Project: Research
Digital twin guided minimally invasive, intelligent and intuitive surgery (MI-3 Surgery)
Shu, W. (Principal Investigator), Kazakidi, A. (Co-investigator) & Luo, X. (Principal Investigator)
1/10/21 → 1/06/23
Project: Research
A Multiscale Digital Twin-Driven Smart Manufacturing System for High Value-Added Products
Luo, X. (Principal Investigator), Qin, Y. (Co-investigator) & Ward, M. (Co-investigator)
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
1/05/20 → 30/04/25
Project: Research

Cite this

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abstract = "Computer-assisted surgery is becoming essential in modern medicine to accurately plan, guide, and perform surgeries. Similarly, Digital Twin technology is expected to be instrumental in the future of surgery, owing to its capacity to virtually replicate patient-specific interventions whilst providing real-time updates to clinicians. This perspective introduces the term Digital Twin-Assisted Surgery and discusses its potential to improve surgical precision and outcome, along with key challenges for successful clinical translation.",

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AU - Luo, Xichun

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AU - Connolly, Patricia

AU - Picard, Frederic

AU - O'Neill, Kevin

AU - Tsaftaris, Sotirios A.

AU - Stewart, Grant D.

AU - Shu, Wenmiao

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AB - Computer-assisted surgery is becoming essential in modern medicine to accurately plan, guide, and perform surgeries. Similarly, Digital Twin technology is expected to be instrumental in the future of surgery, owing to its capacity to virtually replicate patient-specific interventions whilst providing real-time updates to clinicians. This perspective introduces the term Digital Twin-Assisted Surgery and discusses its potential to improve surgical precision and outcome, along with key challenges for successful clinical translation.

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Digital twin assisted surgery, concept, opportunities, and challenges

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Real-time Digital Twin Assisted Surgery (DTAS)

Digital twin guided minimally invasive, intelligent and intuitive surgery (MI-3 Surgery)

A Multiscale Digital Twin-Driven Smart Manufacturing System for High Value-Added Products

Cite this