The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery confirms the tumour came out fine, and asks everyone to please focus on the clock.
An AI helped London surgeons remove a brain tumour in a world first, and also noticed the theatre clock was three minutes slow. The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery has launched a three-day inquiry into the clock. The surgery, officials confirm, went fine.
The clock in operating theatre three at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery now shows the right time. Engineers moved it forward on Monday. The trust called it the most important correction in the history of British medicine.
The clock came to light during an operation in May. A computer watched the surgical camera feed and drew lines around the parts of the brain the surgeons had to avoid. That let them remove a tumour and save a man's sight. The computer also noticed the wall clock was three minutes slow. The trust has concentrated on the second finding.
"We do not know how long the clock had been wrong," said Dr Margaret Slate, the trust's head of incident response. "Possibly years. Every procedure in that theatre may have begun at a time that was not the time. We are asking staff not to look at their watches until we know more."
The surgery itself appears in paragraph three of the trust's statement. "There was also an operation," it says. "It went well. The patient can see. Moving on."
An inquiry began at once. Three inspectors will spend three days in the theatre. Theatre two will be checked as well, because its clock is right and you need something to compare against. That is the control group. It means a clock you already trust.
Early results are grave. The inspectors checked the clock three times, and it was slow all three times. The chance of that happening by luck is small. Dr Slate would not put a number on it. "The number would frighten people," she said.
The surgeons have struggled to match the mood. Professor Alan Ferris, who led the operation, was asked to describe the world first.
"The computer drew a line around the bits of brain we needed to leave alone. We left them alone. I honestly do not know what else to tell you."
Asked about the clock, he gripped the table.
What happens next
The trust does offer one caution. The finding may not hold. Clocks drift, and this was a single clock in a single room. A larger study, using more clocks, is planned for spring.
Ministers have already promised the technology will reach every hospital clock in England by 2029. The brain part will follow when there is time. Details of the operation, for anyone still curious, are with the Guardian.
