Can Artificial Intelligence Help Orthopaedic Surgeons in the Conservative Management of Knee Osteoarthritis? A Consensus Analysis

Background: Knee osteoarthritis is a prevalent condition that significantly impacts patients’ quality of life. Effective management typically involves a combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments. However, establishing a consensus on the optimal treatment strategy is crucial for standardizing care. The present study is the result of a rigorous process that combines artificial intelligence with human expertise to improve the reliability of medical recommendations. Methods: A new software platform (Butterfly Decisions, 2021, Italy) was employed to leverage AI-assisted decision-making, facilitating the digitalization of the entire consensus process. The process started with data collection through an online survey including simulated clinical cases of knee osteoarthritis collected by 30 orthopedic surgeons; artificial intelligence (AI) analyzed the collected clinical data and identified the key concepts and relevant patterns. Subsequently, AI generated detailed statements summarizing key concepts extracted from the data and proposed a reformulation of the statements to be discussed during the discussion session of the advisory board. The advisory board, composed of four qualified, experienced specialists of knee osteoarthritis, evaluated statements, providing their agreement levels, confidence, and supporting evidence. The AI tools calculated the degree of certainty and contradiction for each statement based on these evaluations. The literature was critically evaluated to ensure that there was an evidence-based evaluation of the proposed treatment statements. Finally, revised versions were proposed to address the feedback, evidence was collected to refine the scientific report, and the board members evaluated the AI performance too. Results: The consensus analysis revealed a high level of agreement in the need for a multimodal approach to treating knee osteoarthritis. The feedback highlighted the importance of integrating physical therapy and weight management, non-pharmacological methods, with Symptomatic Slow-Acting Drug for Osteoarthritis (SYSADOAs) and pharmacological treatments, such as anti-inflammatory drugs and intra-articular knee injections. The board members found that AI was easy to use and understand and each statement was structured clearly and concisely. Conclusions: The expert consensus about knee osteoarthritis conservative management being facilitated with AI met with unanimous agreement. AI-assisted decision-making was shown to have excellent analytical capabilities, but algorithms needs to be trained by orthopaedic experts with the correct inputs. Future additional efforts are still required to evaluate the incorporation of AI in clinical workflows.