Expert discusses AI and Aquablation for treating BPH

In this video, Ravi Munver, MD, discusses the furure potential of Aquablation with the HYDROS Robotic System for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Munver is the vice chair of the department of urology at Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), as well as the director of minimally invasive and robotic urologic surgery, the chief of living donor kidney surgery, and the director of the minimally invasive robotic laparoscopic and reconstructive oncology fellowship program at HUMC in New Jersey.

Transcription:

How might Aquablation evolve in the coming years?

Where can Aquablation go in the coming years? I think artificial intelligence is really in its infancy right now. The term is used on a daily basis. We are surrounded by artificial intelligence, but really we are in its infancy. Artificial intelligence involves machine learning. It involves deep learning and the integration of neural networks. Aquablation with artificial intelligence is only as good as the data that's inputted. Where we are right now with artificial intelligence is we're at that machine learning phase. [This is] machine learning based on inputted data from thousands of prostate sizes and shapes, so that the technology can identify the specific landmarks within a prostate. The next generation may involve deep learning. The deep learning is the ability to learn from the mistakes or from prior procedures and make adjustments. As the Aquablation procedure is being performed with the HYDROS system, while the treatment planning is done with artificial intelligence, the actual treatment with the robotic water jet is being performed, but the surgeon himself or herself is actually monitoring that treatment to make any minor adjustments. What I mean by that is that if the water jet is too powerful in 1 area or not as powerful in another area, minor adjustments with the press of a button, a plus button or a minus button, can adjust the power of the water jet. But the treatment plan itself has already been preprogrammed.

Where Aquablation with the HYDROS system is also really, really innovative, is that you can actually see the treatment plan before the procedure starts, and that indicates that the channel that you create through the prostate is illustrated in an animation so you can decide if you like that treatment path, so that when the procedure is done, you will see what the channel looks like before it was even created. Other therapies, you're actually seeing the channel that's created as you're doing it, but you're only seeing it from the inside, because the prostate is like a donut or a tunnel. So you're inside the tunnel, and you're making the tunnel wider, but you don't know how much room you have to make that tunnel even wider. With Aquablation, because of the real-time ultrasound image and the 3D animation that's created, you can see the actual dimensions and shape of the tunnel that's created before you even start the procedure. That is absolutely incredible.

This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.