SINGAPORE – Complex spinal surgery at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has been made faster, safer and more precise with the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
As Singapore’s population ages rapidly, more seniors are likely to suffer from spinal conditions, including complex deformities such as degenerative scoliosis with nerve compression.
Hospitals here have been riding the wave of adopting AI in healthcare for better outcomes, such as analysing a cardiac scan for a
faster diagnosis of coronary artery disease
, and analysing medical lab reports with a comprehensible summary and explanation of the results.
Similarly, in TTSH, its department of orthopaedic surgery has successfully performed more than 250 AI-assisted spinal surgical operations since 2021. These were mostly complex surgical operations for elderly patients.
Complex spinal surgery used to be done with surgeons deciding on surgical details only in the operating theatre, such as the exact positions in the spine and the ideal angles to implant the screws and rods, as well as the contour of the rods.
Rods and screws are implanted to hold the spine at its corrected position and keep the spine aligned properly.
This process relied heavily on the surgeon’s experience and could result in variable accuracy rates, given that the patient would be lying flat and presenting the spine differently compared with when standing straight, said Dr Wayne Yap, a consultant at TTSH’s orthopaedic surgery department.
With AI aiding pre-surgery planning and providing greater accuracy in the implantation of the screws and rods, TTSH surgeons can now concentrate on aspects of the surgery that require their professional expertise and skills.
An example is a surgeon adjusting the angle of implantation for patients with osteoporosis, as their spinal bones would have softened, said Dr Yap.
The AI tool developed in Europe by medtech company Medtronic allows for auto-analysis of the patient’s X-ray to assess the state of the spine, as well as predictive modelling of the potential outcomes of the surgery, including if the spine can be straightened to a normal and functioning state.
