About this Research Topic
We find ourselves in the era of the digital revolution. Although it is not possible to oversee all the changes that will be triggered, it is clear that we are facing fundamental changes of the global society that will touch every aspect of our lives and health care as well.
The Covid-Pandemic showed the potential of digitalisation in orthopaedic surgery. Telemedicine is an additional source to connect with the patient as surgeons and an improvement of interprofessional communication. Digitalisation has not only shown better communication through telemedicine but also in other aspects of health care delivery. As part of this digital revolution, we see a rapid development of:
1. sensor technologies and wearable devices,
2. improved visualisation through augmented reality
3. artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning algorithms, which are now able to
solve extremely complex problems,
4. increases in computing power that have moved to the cloud, making it accessible virtually
everywhere
5. robots are becoming more advanced and able to assist even in complex situations.
All these developments will have a massive impact on medical science and subspecialties, such as orthopaedic surgery. In the past century, the surgical field could be developed by improving and developing new implants and minimally invasive surgical techniques with improved outcome and fast recovery of patients. The digital revolution will take surgery to the next step of development. Surgical science can now be more individualised to the patients need so that the movement of patient-centric diagnosis and treatment evolve to the next level: Orthopaedic Surgery 4.0.
The aim of this research topic is to prepare the ground for what we call orthopaedic surgery 4.0. We want to cover promising, recent, and novel research in which digital technology improves patients
care with a musculoskeletal disease. Our special collection aims to discuss the latest technology and its advantages and disadvantages to advance the field of orthopaedic surgery.
We welcome all types of contributions, including theoretical, engineering and applied research works. Areas to be covered in this research topic may include, but are not limited to:
● Digitalisation in the orthopaedic surgical field from telemedicine through rehabilitation, how
digitalisation improves patient-centric health care delivery in musculoskeletal health delivery
● Artificial intelligence, Machine - and deep learning in Orthopaedic Surgery, how these
technologies improve the decision support for diagnosis and treatment with an
improvement of quality of care and outcome measurement
● Virtual and augmented reality in Orthopaedic Surgery, how we can improve and simplify the
surgical care in OR
● Robots as the future surgeon or a tool for better surgical delivery?
● Sensor technology such as wearable sensors in the field of orthopaedic surgery and with a
focus on the rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disease, how we can analyse human motion
and parameter monitoring to understand the pathology behind the disease without an on-
site visit
● Digitalisation in teaching and education for health care delivery, how can the latest digital
tools improve surgical teaching in health care provider as well as patient education
● Surgical data science with big data
The Covid-Pandemic showed the potential of digitalisation in orthopaedic surgery. Telemedicine is an additional source to connect with the patient as surgeons and an improvement of interprofessional communication. Digitalisation has not only shown better communication through telemedicine but also in other aspects of health care delivery. As part of this digital revolution, we see a rapid development of:
1. sensor technologies and wearable devices,
2. improved visualisation through augmented reality
3. artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning algorithms, which are now able to
solve extremely complex problems,
4. increases in computing power that have moved to the cloud, making it accessible virtually
everywhere
5. robots are becoming more advanced and able to assist even in complex situations.
All these developments will have a massive impact on medical science and subspecialties, such as orthopaedic surgery. In the past century, the surgical field could be developed by improving and developing new implants and minimally invasive surgical techniques with improved outcome and fast recovery of patients. The digital revolution will take surgery to the next step of development. Surgical science can now be more individualised to the patients need so that the movement of patient-centric diagnosis and treatment evolve to the next level: Orthopaedic Surgery 4.0.
The aim of this research topic is to prepare the ground for what we call orthopaedic surgery 4.0. We want to cover promising, recent, and novel research in which digital technology improves patients
care with a musculoskeletal disease. Our special collection aims to discuss the latest technology and its advantages and disadvantages to advance the field of orthopaedic surgery.
We welcome all types of contributions, including theoretical, engineering and applied research works. Areas to be covered in this research topic may include, but are not limited to:
● Digitalisation in the orthopaedic surgical field from telemedicine through rehabilitation, how
digitalisation improves patient-centric health care delivery in musculoskeletal health delivery
● Artificial intelligence, Machine - and deep learning in Orthopaedic Surgery, how these
technologies improve the decision support for diagnosis and treatment with an
improvement of quality of care and outcome measurement
● Virtual and augmented reality in Orthopaedic Surgery, how we can improve and simplify the
surgical care in OR
● Robots as the future surgeon or a tool for better surgical delivery?
● Sensor technology such as wearable sensors in the field of orthopaedic surgery and with a
focus on the rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disease, how we can analyse human motion
and parameter monitoring to understand the pathology behind the disease without an on-
site visit
● Digitalisation in teaching and education for health care delivery, how can the latest digital
tools improve surgical teaching in health care provider as well as patient education
● Surgical data science with big data
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Digitalisation, Robotic, Orthopaedic Surgery, Augmented Reality, Rehabilitation
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
