Newsweek spoke with Michael P. Ast, MD, Chief of the Knee Service, Chief Medical Innovation Officer and Director of Ambulatory Surgery Center Strategy at HSS, about advances that are changing joint replacement surgery and helping more patients safely return home the same day.

Dr. Ast explained that improvements before, during and after surgery have have allowed doctors to safely treat more patients outside the traditional hospital. “The ability to safely discharge a patient from an ASC on the same day of a hip or knee replacement is really about ensuring patients are in the most appropriate physical health prior to surgery,” he shared. Improvements in anesthesia, pain and fluid management are key advances, too.

Robotics and computer-assisted navigation are also changing how joint replacements are planned and performed, including through patient-specific 3D planning that can help surgeons position implants more precisely. Looking ahead, artificial intelligence could further personalize orthopedic care by using patient data and outcomes to help inform treatment decisions. According to Dr. Ast, greater accuracy could ultimately help reduce short- and long-term complications while improving patient satisfaction.

“The most exciting opportunity from the continued progress of robotics and AI in surgery is the democratization of high-quality and high-value care across the country and ultimately across the world,” Dr. Ast explained. He added that AI could help make insights derived from large amounts of patient data more broadly available to surgeons, “raising the bar for us all and getting that high-quality data out to more patients.”

Read the full article at newsweek.com.