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Collins et al. Art Int Surg. 2025;5:254-69 Artificial
DOI: 10.20517/ais.2024.92
Intelligence Surgery

Review Open Access

The role of artificial intelligence in abdominal wall
surgery: recent progress and embracing uncertainty

Toby Collins, Guinther Saibro, Antonello Forgione, Alexandre Hostettler, Jacques Marescaux

Department of Surgical Data Science, IRCAD France, Strasbourg 67000, France.
Correspondence to: Dr. Toby Collins, Department of Surgical Data Science, IRCAD France, 1 Place de l’Hôpital, Strasbourg
67000, France; E-mail: toby.collins@ircad.fr

How to cite this article: Collins T, Saibro G, Forgione A, Hostettler A, Marescaux J. The role of artificial intelligence in abdominal
wall surgery: recent progress and embracing uncertainty. Art Int Surg. 2025;5:254-69. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ais.2024.92

Received: 17 Oct 2024 First Decision: 28 Nov 2024 Revised: 7 Apr 2025 Accepted: 15 Apr 2025 Published: 27 May 2025

Academic Editor: Andrew Gumbs Copy Editor: Pei-Yun Wang Production Editor: Pei-Yun Wang

Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is profoundly impacting most, if not all, scientific and medical disciplines. In abdominal
wall surgery (AWS), which includes common procedures such as hernia repair, abdominal wall reconstruction, and
separation, AI models trained on surgical data have immense potential to enhance clinical practice and patient
outcomes. The benefits include better procedure planning, standardization, interventional guidance, awareness of
critical structures, complication prevention, quality assurance, and patient monitoring. Moreover, AI may
significantly transform surgical education by enhancing training, skill assessment, and feedback mechanisms,
leading to better-prepared surgeons. This review article highlights the latest developments in AI and AWS,
focusing on key emerging applications and why embracing AI model prediction uncertainty is essential to
translating these research efforts to clinical practice.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, surgery, hernia, computer-assisted surgery, machine learning

INTRODUCTION
Abdominal wall surgery (AWS) involves repairing defects or weaknesses in the abdominal wall, such as
hernias, which may occur from congenital conditions, surgical incisions, or trauma. The goal is to restore
the abdominal wall’s structural integrity while minimizing complications to achieve positive functional and
aesthetic outcomes. Each year, over 20 million inguinal hernia repairs are performed globally, making it one

© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
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