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A major consideration in the adoption of enabling and digital technologies is the ability to integrate several products into a comprehensive and versatile platform.
“The key is not to have a single solution or a couple of disconnected products, but rather a portfolio of solutions that meet the needs of various segments of the user base,” said Paul Bryant, MicroPort Orthopedics’ Chief Technology Officer.
Bryant, who has served in his role since 2016, is leading MicroPort Orthopedics’ charge as one of the few mid-tier joint replacement companies to offer an ecosystem of enabling technology. The company launched its SkyWalker Robotic System in the U.S. and partnered with Pixee Medical for surgical navigation.
Bryant said that orthopedic companies’ technology strategies must consider the global market’s needs. That means developing products that cut costs from patient care, manufacturing processes and delivery models. One example he provided is the ability to reduce inventory based on patient insight.
“As we move toward personalization and a digital world, we know much more about the patient before their procedure,” Bryant said. “We can fine-tune what we bring into the O.R. Ultimately, we can reduce the inventory that we hold here, and the inventory that’s with the distributor or at the hospital so that we’re bringing in only what’s necessary for individual patients.”
We asked Bryant five questions about the current state and future potential of enabling technology in orthopedics.
What are the most important technology trends today?
Bryant: The orthopedic landscape and overall healthcare environment continue to morph and change rapidly. Digital and enabling technologies have become more prevalent, driving the market toward data collection and predictive analytics across the patient episode of care.
With that in mind, enabling technology trends within the orthopedic space include the continual progression toward robotics, smart tools like portable navigation and implants, augmented reality and mixed reality systems, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and data analytics. We have the ability to capture data preoperatively, intraoperatively and postoperatively, to drive predictive and personalized healthcare.
Moving forward, orthopedic companies need to think about transformational changes with surgical and manufacturing innovations and even delivery models. They must drive toward efficient, cost-effective solutions that steer excellent patient outcomes and overall satisfaction.
You are one of a few mid-tier joint replacement companies with a robot. What differentiates Skywalker from other robots on the market?
Bryant: Skywalker is a CT-based robotic system that provides enhanced accuracy and the ability to perform precise pre-op planning.
One of the key areas of differentiation is its capabilities for real-time gap balancing. The dynamic gap balancing allows surgeons to assess the patient’s soft tissue considerations and make patient-specific intraoperative adjustments. The system has enhanced features that allow additional data points to be considered, like multiple knee movements across a range of motion and the capture of independent measurements of the joint’s medial and lateral sides.
Combining the kinematics of our Evolution medial-pivot knee system with real-time gap balancing and intraoperative feedback allows surgeons to optimize patient care. We introduced the Skywalker knee platform last year, and we’re gathering excellent feedback and making enhancements to the base technology.
You mentioned AI earlier. What are the best uses of this technology in orthopedics?
Bryant: AI is an emerging and fascinating area of interest, with applications that range from reading image scans to predicting workflows and patient outcomes. A lot of AI is built around big data. We capture information on almost every facet of the patient’s continuum of care — mounds and mounds of data are collected on each patient. We need to gather the right data in the right way to do the right things with it.
We constantly evaluate the benefits of and use cases for AI-based solutions across the entire MicroPort Scientific family of businesses. Within the orthopedics segment, we’re looking to harness (AI) and machine learning to drive efficiencies and effectiveness, both internally and externally.
One internal example is using AI to segment patient CT scans automatically. What used to take hours to manually segment a scan now takes seconds. We’re also evaluating opportunities to utilize AI and machine learning to develop image-based software to help drive efficiency and lower the overall cost of care.
What excites and concerns you the most about the future of enabling and digital technologies?
Bryant: Digital analytics is intriguing. As I mentioned, there is a lot of pre-op, intra-op and post-op data to assess and utilize to help support better decision-making and predictions and, ultimately, improved patient outcomes. Orthopedics benefits from a more connected, informative and predictable digital environment.
Personalization is another area that can enhance the surgeon and patient experience. A solution geared toward the individual leads to better outcomes, which results in happier surgeons and more satisfied patients. Data analytics, AI and personalization have been driving trends for some time. But when you combine all the data that we have today, and make advancements in different areas like manufacturing processes and the delivery model, you can provide personalized solutions in the future.
I don’t have concerns, but some things keep me up at night. One is ever-evolving regulatory requirements. Medical devices have undergone numerous technological advancements in a short amount of time. With digital-based technologies, software solutions and now AI, regulatory bodies are dealing with many more things, which means that we also get hit with new regulations and new things to think about.
As we develop AI-based predictive software, we must not lose sight of the surgeon as the ultimate decision maker. We need to make sure that the tools and widgets we develop support surgeons before, during and after surgery to drive toward the best patient outcomes in the most cost-effective manner.
What is the most challenging part about integrating enabling and digital technologies into a hardware portfolio?
Bryant: Much like other knee and hip companies, we’ve focused on metals and plastics for decades. It’s a challenge to develop digital-based technology and solutions to enhance our implant systems.
One challenge is our organizational structure and internal competencies. We’re making sure that our structure and know-how are aligned for not only what we’re doing today, but where we’re going in the future. We currently leverage external partners to help fill gaps when we lack certain functional competencies. MicroPort Scientific has several business units like our MedBot company, and we can leverage their capabilities to develop and integrate digital technologies.
There’s also been a mind shift in what to think about when taking a product through the development and commercialization process, such as having appropriate security and privacy systems in place and ensuring that we fully understand the regulatory process for software, which is different from hardware.
Finally, we are constantly thinking about ways to build an integrated, cohesive and connected digital platform rather than a series of separate solutions. It’s a different ball game, and there are a lot of challenges to consider.
