TY - JOUR
T1 - Surgical innovation and technology
AU - Matthews, Jeffrey B
AU - Ruurda, Jelle P
AU - Vaughan-Shaw, Peter G
AU - Winter, Desmond C
AU - Beggs, Andrew
AU - Yiu, Andrew
AU - Davidson, Brian
AU - Seeliger, Barbara
AU - Xin, Chen
AU - Stoyanov, Daniel
AU - Rietbergen, Daphne D
AU - van Leeuwen, Fijs W B
AU - Kuiper, Gerlof M
AU - Piozzi, Guglielmo N
AU - Qiu, Jianing
AU - Kinross, James M
AU - Ramalhinho, João
AU - Khan, Jim S
AU - Gurusamy, Kurinchi
AU - Lam, Kyle
AU - Chan, Kai F
AU - Zhang, Li
AU - Boal, Matthew
AU - Clarkson, Matthew J
AU - van Oosterom, Matthias N
AU - Francis, Nader
AU - Lal, Neeraj
AU - Chiu, Philip W Y
AU - Buckle, Tessa
AU - Shasha, Yafit
AU - Hussein, Israa F E
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of BJS Foundation Ltd. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected] for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact [email protected]. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/pages/standard-publication-reuse-rights)
PY - 2026/5
Y1 - 2026/5
N2 - BACKGROUND: The pace of surgical innovation appears ever faster. Innovation is being freed from the design constraints of the opposable digits of a surgeon's hand through the use of programmable binary digits. Surgeons must be the drivers of change and central to the application of innovations. We should collaborate with industry, engineers and scientists to think out of the box but must consider also expense, environmental impact, equity, and ethics. But we should not be blinded by shiny technology: innovation without impact is mere noise. The ultimate considerations are the diagnosis and management of surgical disease, of improving the care of our patients.METHODS: Expert surgeons, scientists and engineers across the world were identified and invited to describe areas of innovation within surgery. They were given free rein to review their areas of expertise and to discuss both current and future applications of technology within surgical care.RESULTS: The Commission spans multiple surgical specialties and scientific domains. It reviews translational genomics, including the role of ctDNA, alongside microbiomic and proteomic applications in improving the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of surgical disease. Applications to enhance surgical procedures are described, from medical micro/nanorobots for minimally invasive interventions, sensory-enriched surgery with visual optimization and molecular image-guidance to intelligent and semiautomated instruments. The expansion and broad influence of artificial intelligence in surgical writing, training and simulation, diagnosis and robotics is widely described. The role of surgical innovation and technology in driving personalized care for benign and malignant surgical disease from genomic profiling to bespoke surgical and non-surgical treatment pathways and surveillance is considered.CONCLUSION: The future of surgery is poised to become more precise, personalized, and effective. Collaboration with engineers, data scientists, and industry partners not only represents an exciting opportunity for surgeons to participate in team science but is critical to focus innovation goals on optimizing patient care and outcomes.
AB - BACKGROUND: The pace of surgical innovation appears ever faster. Innovation is being freed from the design constraints of the opposable digits of a surgeon's hand through the use of programmable binary digits. Surgeons must be the drivers of change and central to the application of innovations. We should collaborate with industry, engineers and scientists to think out of the box but must consider also expense, environmental impact, equity, and ethics. But we should not be blinded by shiny technology: innovation without impact is mere noise. The ultimate considerations are the diagnosis and management of surgical disease, of improving the care of our patients.METHODS: Expert surgeons, scientists and engineers across the world were identified and invited to describe areas of innovation within surgery. They were given free rein to review their areas of expertise and to discuss both current and future applications of technology within surgical care.RESULTS: The Commission spans multiple surgical specialties and scientific domains. It reviews translational genomics, including the role of ctDNA, alongside microbiomic and proteomic applications in improving the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of surgical disease. Applications to enhance surgical procedures are described, from medical micro/nanorobots for minimally invasive interventions, sensory-enriched surgery with visual optimization and molecular image-guidance to intelligent and semiautomated instruments. The expansion and broad influence of artificial intelligence in surgical writing, training and simulation, diagnosis and robotics is widely described. The role of surgical innovation and technology in driving personalized care for benign and malignant surgical disease from genomic profiling to bespoke surgical and non-surgical treatment pathways and surveillance is considered.CONCLUSION: The future of surgery is poised to become more precise, personalized, and effective. Collaboration with engineers, data scientists, and industry partners not only represents an exciting opportunity for surgeons to participate in team science but is critical to focus innovation goals on optimizing patient care and outcomes.
KW - Diffusion of Innovation
KW - Humans
KW - Inventions/trends
KW - Surgical Procedures, Operative/trends
U2 - 10.1093/bjs/znaf224
DO - 10.1093/bjs/znaf224
M3 - Review article
C2 - 42149732
SN - 0007-1323
VL - 113
JO - The British journal of surgery
JF - The British journal of surgery
IS - 5
M1 - znaf224
ER -