The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) held its 2023 annual meeting on March 7th through 11th, in Las Vegas, California and four orthopedic surgeons who were in attendance shared their views with Stream by AlphaSense on the event and its implications for clinical practice. These first-person accounts are a great supplement to traditional post-conference reports published by sell-side analysts and build on the hundreds of orthopedic interviews contained in the Stream expert transcript library.
We’ve curated key snippets of these expert insights for you below, but if you want complete access to these expert call transcripts then sign up now for your free trial of Stream by AlphaSense!
Check out these interviews with AAOS attendees:
- An orthopedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacement
- One specializing in sports medicine
- Another specializing in foot and ankle procedures
- An orthopedic surgeon who specialized in spine procedures, now focusing full time on orthopedic device development
And here’s a summary of the experts’ key conference takeaways:
Experts reported an upbeat atmosphere at the AAOS 2023 Annual Meeting and strong year-over-year growth in attendance.
“[Attendance] was close to pre-COVID [levels]… way better than last year… People were excited to see each other again. The exhibition hall, where all the vendors were, [was] packed… People wanted to learn the newer concepts that they’ve missed [out] on over the last two to three years.” – Foot and ankle surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Experts said the conference was, overall, short on breakthrough technology, though augmented reality was strongly featured.
“I was surprised by how many companies were exhibiting augmented reality in one form or another… Obviously the industry believes this is the wave of the future… I really didn’t see a lot of other, what I would call, dramatic innovation. I walked through the exhibits pretty thoroughly… I just didn’t see a lot of groundbreaking technological advancements.” – Former orthopedic spine surgeon at Palomar Health
Experts offered differing opinions about the clinical utility of augmented reality.
“In augmented reality… you can overlay a lot of CT scan findings directly onto the patient during surgery. It really improves accuracy… Also, for surgeons who are in training, what’s neat is they can now start getting [experience] through a virtual-reality-type curriculum.” – Orthopedic surgeon at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
“Augmented reality is not likely to be additive from a [patient] outcome standpoint, but surgeons are humans. As such, there may be a market appeal. New surgeons are enamored with… video games and/or various apps… For many, they don’t really need to see an objective benefit.” – Former orthopedic spine surgeon at Palomar Health
Experts said augmented reality innovation is coming from smaller players, with one expert specifying Osso VR, RSQ HOLO and PrecisionOS.
“Right now, it’s primarily the smaller companies [innovating in augmented reality], but I don’t think that’ll be for long. If there’s that much interest… the larger [orthopedic] companies are almost compelled to follow.” – Former orthopedic spine surgeon at Palomar Health
Robotic surgery platforms also figured prominently at the conference and continue to make incremental improvements to drive adoption, according to experts.
“[Robotic] software is improving. The indications are expanding. You’re able to get more accuracy with cuts and proper planning, which is all-important for this type of surgery… I think [robotics] is the future of orthopedics.” – Director of orthopedic surgery at Northwell Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Hospital
A surgeon focused on hip and knee replacements questioned the benefit of smart knee technology from companies like Zimmer Biomet Holdings (ZBH.)
“They have devices or implants now, they track certain metrics… You can kind of follow the patient or you can get data that way over these smart implants. I’m not sure of the utility of those yet… What do you do with the data? …I don’t see any true clinical application for it other than collecting certain data and seeing how someone uses [the implant].” – Director of orthopedic surgery at Northwell Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Hospital
A foot and ankle surgeon said Treace Medical Concepts’ (TMCI) Lapiplasty procedure for bunion correction is likely to be pressured by minimally invasive surgery (MIS) approaches.
“Treace [Medical] exploded about three or four years ago, and that’s when nobody was doing minimally invasive [bunion] surgery. Now, most surgeons at the [AAOS] meeting want to know about minimally invasive… It’s so much easier to do an MIS operation, patients like it more, it’s cheaper. From [the] standpoint of a surgery center, it’s way more cost-effective to do [MIS] as opposed to Lapiplasty.” – Orthopedic surgeon at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
Meanwhile, a spine surgeon was enthusiastic about basivertebral nerve ablation, such as Relievant Medical’s Intracept procedure, for chronic low back pain.
“One of the things that is of considerable interest… is basivertebral nerve ablation for degenerative disc pain… That’s a tremendous advance that was unavailable therapeutically just a few years ago. It has some significantly compelling clinical studies to validate it.” – Former orthopedic spine surgeon at Palomar Health
Want more healthcare conference coverage? Read our blog posts on the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2022 and American Society of Hematology (ASH) conferences to learn what physicians had to say about the data presented at these annual meetings.
Stream in AlphaSense will continue to gather expert insights on the orthopedics market and other healthcare topics, so stay tuned for more blog posts! Don’t forget to explore the entire Stream expert transcript library to stay on top of the latest developments in the healthcare sector and beyond.
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Contributor
Alyees Qureshi, Content Marketing Specialist and Healthcare Lead
Vice President and Sector Head, Healthcare at Stream by AlphaSense
Sara has more than 16 years of experience generating sell-side research content across a variety of industries, including healthcare, which is her focus at Stream by AlphaSense. Sara has a passion for developing content that helps clients pursue their ideas and sparks new ways of thinking.
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