OrthoGrid Debuts AI-Enabled Hip Navigation Technology

OrthoGrid Systems Inc. is unveiling an artificial intelligence-powered hip navigation platform. 

“Surgeons are risk-averse decision makers,” said Richard Boddington, co-CEO of OrthoGrid. “They spend most of their time interpreting information so they can make decisions that ensure reproducible outcomes for their patients. AI provides them with the most efficient way to interpret all that information in real-time, which is the true transformation we are delivering in orthopedic surgery.” 

Powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, OrthoGrid’s Hip AI application is touted as world’s first-ever intraoperative hip replacement navigation system. The company will showcase Hip AI at AAOS 2022 (March 22-26). With AI and data at its core, OrthoGrid technology redefines orthopedic navigation and improves the surgeon’s efficiency, accuracy, and reproducibility.
 
The last technology innovation cycle in orthopedic navigation—now several decades old—integrated robotics as an extension of an optical tracking system. Its automated robotic arm solves an execution issue that is mechanical in nature, holding a cutting block or saw, primarily receiving information, not processing it. These expensive systems still require pin placement, manual registration, pre-operative imaging, a dedicated operator, and extensive training with certification. Not taking away from their enduring promise, robotics, as is, has difficulty meeting the value equation demanded by the evolution of orthopedic surgery environments such ambulatory surgical centers.
 
Today’s new technology innovation cycle centers on artificial intelligence. Data-driven AI powered technology actively responds to and enhances the surgeon’s performance throughout every phase of surgery. In comparison, OrthoGrid AI automatically registers a patient’s specific anatomy, identifies instruments and implants, and processes the data in accordance with the surgeon’s established workflow. All of this occurs seamlessly in real time and without any delay. 
 
“Our new Hip AI platform is experiential,” said Edouard Saget, co-CEO of OrthoGrid. “As orthopedic surgeon Stefano Bini told me a month ago, ‘Good AI is obvious! And that makes it sticky.’ It’s hard to explain that patient-specific anatomy will be automatically registered, and all the information you want to see will be processed instantly, the way you expect to see it. It just needs to be experienced.”
 
OrthoGrid’s applications are carefully designed to be intuitive and effective for all stakeholders. This intuitiveness stems from the company’s belief that healthcare technology must answer the value equation of quality over cost.
 
“The differentiating element of OrthoGrid’s platform is that it integrates seamlessly with what I already do. It elevates what I’ve spent years perfecting and is helping me take my surgical practice to a new level. It’s a smart digital partner committed to enhancing my performance without asking me to compromise on time, invasiveness, or cost,” said Brian Gladnick, M.D., orthopedic surgeon at the Carrell Clinic in Dallas, Texas.
 
Digital transformation is omnipresent in healthcare. Although OrthoGrid is innovating on a different track, technology is integrative by nature. 
 
“OrthoGrid’s AI-powered virtual guide wire trajectory already integrates with their soon to come augmented reality in my trauma cases,” said Erik Kubiak, M.D., vice chair of Orthopedic Surgery at University of Nevada Las Vegas. 
 
OrthoGrid uses data, deep research and collaboration with surgeons to create intuitive and efficient digital platforms that enhance orthopedic surgery. OrthoGrid’s future plans include the release of its Trauma AI applications.