Machine learning is a data science tool that is now being applied to shoulder replacement to provide individual patient risk/benefit assessment and prediction of clinical outcomes. It is a technique used in predictive analytics to use historical data to forecast a predicted future state. Traditionally an orthopedic implant company is moving beyond implant design and sales toward an Active Intelligence suite of smart solutions that can use machine learning to augments a surgeon’s ability to customize and optimize care for each patient. This clinical decision support tool is called Predict+.
Dr. Parsons is among a group of surgeons that has been invited by Exactech to participate in this initiative along with engineers and data scientists from KenSci (a data science company based in Seattle, WA). Exactech has an international database that consists of over 10,000 shoulder replacement patients from 35 centers around the world. This database contains information on age, gender, medical conditions, diagnosis, implants used and preoperative and postoperative range of motion and functional outcomes. Using Predict+ the surgeon can input a defined list of patient-specific features and generate an accurate prediction on expected outcomes related to age and gender matched controls, complication rates, measures that can be taken to improve outcomes and whether the patient would benefit most from either and anatomic or reverse total shoulder replacement. This information can in turn be used to educate patients about expectations after surgery and whether addressing any risk factors can help improve outcomes.
This partnership is the first of its kind in the joint replacement market and Dr. Parsons will one of the first surgeons in the country to have access to this Predict+ platform. Successive versions of this platform will incorporate surgical navigation data and imaging data to continue to refine the predictive algorithms with a view improving outcomes and lowering complication rates.
Dr. Parsons will be presenting the concept, rationale and design of Predict+ at an upcoming webinar called Man Versus Machine. Smart Solutions to Augment Today’s Joint Surgeon.
To learn more about Active Intelligence, visit:
https://www.exac.com/activeintelligence/
