Artificial intelligence, surgical robots ... new technologies are changing bone science.

In recent years, the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies have gradually penetrated into all aspects of orthopedic medicine, which has promoted the birth and evolution of new orthopedics in the new era, and also endowed traditional orthopedics with new concepts, new connotations, new scopes, new diagnosis and treatment methods and rehabilitation models. These will have a far-reaching impact on orthopedic surgeons and orthopedic patients.

Common orthopedic diseases have changed.

Osteology is a discipline that specializes in the study of musculoskeletal system and the treatment of its injuries. With the change of times and society and the appearance of new technology, the damage spectrum of orthopedic system has changed obviously.

Diseases such as bone and joint tuberculosis, osteomyelitis and poliomyelitis are obviously reduced, and the injuries caused by traffic accidents are obviously increased; With the increase of the proportion of the elderly population, the fractures and joint diseases caused by osteoporosis in the elderly are increasing year by year; Affected by environmental factors, bone tumors and rheumatoid arthritis have also increased accordingly.

At the same time, the diagnosis and treatment technology of orthopedics has also undergone important changes in recent decades. Minimally invasive technology, new material application, regeneration technology, navigation technology and robot technology have strongly promoted the rapid development of this discipline.

A new interdisciplinary subject: digital orthopedics

The combination of computer science and bone science has formed a new interdisciplinary subject-digital orthopedics, which involves the knowledge of human anatomy, solid geometry, biomechanics, materials science, informatics, electronics and mechanical engineering. Specifically, it includes: orthopedic finite element analysis, orthopedic digital anatomy (three-dimensional reconstruction), orthopedic virtual simulation surgery, orthopedic rapid prototyping technology, orthopedic reverse engineering technology, computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology, preoperative planning, computer-aided orthopedic navigation surgery, orthopedic remote surgery and orthopedic robot surgery.

These new technologies are gradually widely used in various sub-specialties of orthopedics. The new theory and technology have brought about changes in the division of labor in clinical specialties, making it more reasonable and efficient.

In fact, some mature artificial intelligence and its related technologies (including intelligent computer software and mechanical and electronic equipment) have begun to enter or explore clinical applications, such as computer-aided detection, auxiliary diagnosis systems, wearable devices and remote sensing and telemetry systems, and bioinformatics technologies.

In addition, a large number of new modern medical technologies based on computer or IT technology have been applied in clinic, such as gene diagnosis and gene manipulation technology, biomedical engineering technology, new drug synthesis technology (including the design and manufacture of drug molecules), 3D printing technology, AR/VR/MR technology and so on.

From the history of medical development, scientific and technological progress and the use of new tools often lead to technological progress and even technological revolution, forming new disciplines and even new formats, thus promoting the development of productive forces. With the increasing incidence of orthopedic diseases in the world, precise treatment is the future development direction of orthopedics.

Artificial intelligence: injecting vitality into orthopedics

Artificial intelligence has the ability of learning and innovation comparable to human beings. It can be used in many clinical situations by reasoning and decision-making through neural network system and software algorithm.

The examination of medical imaging data is closely related to the diagnosis of orthopedic diseases. Clinicians have to interpret a large number of patients' optical images such as CT, MRI and X-ray, which greatly tests people's intelligence and physical strength. Now the reading effect of the film reading robot has reached the professional technical level, and the reading speed is faster than that of human beings. Artificial intelligence can apply image recognition technology and massive empirical data technology, and through learning empirical knowledge, it can help orthopedic surgeons to assist in processing, improve the work efficiency of orthopedic surgeons, and reduce misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis of certain diseases.

Just as the learning ability of artificial intelligence assists orthopedic surgeons, the learning ability of artificial intelligence can also assist orthopedic nurses. By integrating nursing knowledge, nursing cases and nursing experience into artificial intelligence system, big data of orthopedic patient care can be established. When a new patient is admitted to the ward and the case characteristics of the new patient are input, artificial intelligence can quickly recommend the best nursing plan for nurses.

In addition, the nursing mode in the new era needs to gradually realize accurate nursing, which brings greater work pressure to medical staff. The application of robots in hospital environment can effectively assist nurses to complete part of their work, free them from heavy and single work and better serve patients. For example, food care robots, article transfer robots, patient handling robots, etc. Will be more and more applied to clinical work.

Orthopedic robot: a good helper in operating room

At present, orthopedic robots have been widely used in spine surgery, knee replacement, hip replacement and other operations. Many universities, scholars and companies in China have carried out a series of exploration on the industrialization of intelligent orthopedics. The domestic orthopedic surgery robot has successfully realized the following and parallel operation in the automatic navigation technology of difficult orthopedic surgery, and gradually took the lead.

To sum up, the new technological revolution has brought new shocks and revolutions to traditional disciplines, and will inevitably change and rebuild new disciplines. In the new era, the new technological revolution will inevitably reshape and interpret the new bone science to adapt to the wave of the new technological revolution and promote the discipline to always be at the forefront of scientific and technological development.

In order to help the high-quality development of the health care industry, the column of "Medical Vision" will focus on advanced concepts and excellent practices in various fields of medicine, build high-end think tanks for doctors, capture innovation highlights, straighten out development ideas and improve governance capabilities.

Planning: Fangtong

Author: Pei Guo Xi 'an, Dean of the Third Affiliated Hospital of South University of Science and Technology.