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Artificial intelligence for improving cardiovascular surgery training: A multiyear national exam analysis
Bedirhan Buğra Bayıcı1, Fatih Kızılyel1, Hatice Şahin2
1Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Health Sciences Türkiye, Koşuyolu High Specialization Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Türkiye.
Turk Gogus Kalp Damar Cerrahisi Dergisi
|July 21, 2026
Summary
Artificial intelligence (AI) significantly outperformed cardiovascular surgery residents on theoretical knowledge assessments. AI shows potential to enhance surgical education by supporting knowledge acquisition, allowing more focus on practical skills.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Surgical Training
- Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
Background:
- Cardiovascular surgery residency demands theoretical knowledge, visuospatial skills, and technical proficiency.
- This study investigates resident performance on national assessments and explores AI's role in surgical education.
Purpose of the Study:
- Identify challenging training domains for cardiovascular surgery residents.
- Evaluate the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to support theoretical knowledge acquisition in surgical training.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 300 multiple-choice questions from six National Resident Assessment Examinations (2023-2025).
- Comparison of resident performance (Junior vs. Senior cohorts) with ChatGPT 5.2 using a zero-shot approach.
- Categorization of questions by topic, cognitive domain, and visual complexity.
Main Results:
- AI significantly outperformed residents (81.3% vs. 58.1% mean score; p<0.001).
- AI excelled in text-based and guideline-oriented questions but struggled with visuospatial reasoning and angiographic interpretation.
- Visually oriented clinical reasoning remains a challenge for both residents and AI.
Conclusions:
- AI can serve as a valuable adjunct for theoretical knowledge acquisition in surgical residency.
- AI integration may enable residents to dedicate more time to developing visuospatial reasoning and operative decision-making skills through simulation.
