Some artificial intelligence tools may currently be useful in orthopedic surgery and traumatology.

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help in diagnosing fractures and demonstrating effusions, dislocations, and focal bone lesions in both adult and pediatric aged individuals and also aid in early tumor discovery (bone osteosarcoma) and in robot-assisted surgery. A recent AI model [Mask R-CNN (region-based convolutional neural network)] has shown to be dependable for detecting surgical target zones in pediatric hip and periarticular infections, offering a more convenient and quicker alternative to conventional methods. It can help inexperienced physicians in pre-treatment evaluations, diminishing the risk of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis. AI has some very interesting applications in orthopedic surgery, which orthopedic surgeons should be aware of and if possible use. Although some interesting advances have been made recently on AI in orthopedic surgery, its usefulness in clinical practice is still very limited. Ethical concerns, such as transparency in AI decision-making, data privacy, and the potential loss of human intuition cannot be forgotten. Besides, it is paramount to explore how to gain trust from both healthcare professionals and patients in the utilization of AI.