Becker’s Spine Review reports HSS researchers have found artificial intelligence may help orthopedic surgeons predict patient outcomes following joint replacement surgery. The study demonstrated machine-learning algorithms can anticipate which patients will report a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in symptoms two years after total knee or total hip replacement surgery. The researchers examined the physical and mental status of patients from data collected [7,239 hip and 6,480 knee replacement cases from 2007 through 2012], and determined whether a patient achieved an MCID across four patient reported outcome measure scores: one for each of general physical health; general mental health; hip health; and knee health.

Lead study author Mark Fontana, PhD, Senior Director of Data Science at HSS, said in a statement, “Understanding patient-reported outcomes is vital as pain and function are subjective. Asking patients how they're doing is necessary.”

Read the full article at BeckersSpine.com.

Additional coverage: Beckersspine.com, Beckersasc.com