EAES Lecture: Advanced imaging and AI in colorectal surgery

Tuesday, 1 December 2026, 6:10 pm

Luigi Boni argues that advanced imaging —particularly fluorescence-guided techniques — can make key features such as bowel perfusion and anatomy visible in real time. This gives colorectal surgeons information that’s beyond what they can see with conventional white-light vision. The next step is to combine these imaging capabilities with AI, allowing computer vision to interpret complex intraoperative data and potentially support decisions such as identifying perfusion, dissection planes, and surgical phases. For colorectal surgery, the idea is not to replace the surgeon’s judgment, but to add objective, real-time info while acknowledging that robust clinical validation is still needed before these technologies become standard practice.