Current status and ethical challenges of artificial intelligence in liver transplantation surgery

Abstract:

Liver transplantation is a crucial treatment for end-stage liver disease, yet its complexity continues to limit clinical application. With the development of the internet and big data, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have gradually expanded their use in liver transplantation surgery, covering donor liver evaluation, organ allocation, robot-assisted surgery, and postoperative management, demonstrating significant advantages. However, the application of AI also raises a series of ethical issues, notably fairness in resource allocation, conflicts between technical limitations and the principle of non-maleficence, ambiguous responsibility attribution, patient privacy security, and informed consent. This article systematically reviews the current applications of AI in liver transplantation surgery and the related ethical challenges, aiming to provide a reference for its rational use and sustainable development.