Advances in surgical planning, navigation and clinical evidence are expanding opportunities for patient-specific decision-making across total joint surgery.
Personalization is becoming a defining theme in orthopedic surgery. As surgeons gain access to more detailed anatomical insights, advanced planning technologies and an expanding body of clinical evidence, the conversation is evolving beyond standardized surgical targets toward approaches that account for individual anatomy, biomechanics and functional goals.
These advances raise an important question: How can a deeper understanding of the individual patient inform surgical decision-making and potentially improve outcomes?
From Surgical Precision to Personalized Decision-Making
Traditional surgical principles remain foundational, but the focus is expanding beyond achieving predetermined alignment goals alone.
In knee arthroplasty, surgeons are increasingly evaluating the relationship between native anatomy, joint geometry, ligament balance and soft-tissue behavior. In shoulder arthroplasty, patient-specific glenoid anatomy, bone loss and implant positioning play a critical role in preoperative planning. Similar considerations are emerging across extremity procedures, where anatomical variation and functional demands continue to influence treatment decisions.
Technology is helping advance this evolution. Preoperative planning platforms, computer-assisted navigation, robotics and emerging artificial intelligence applications provide new data that can support surgical decision-making and facilitate more consistent execution.
The next phase of personalization may be connecting these technologies with long-term clinical outcomes. Doing so could help surgeons better understand not only how to execute a surgical plan with precision, but also which surgical strategy may be most appropriate for a specific patient.
...Personalization only moves forward if the evidence does...
Where Does Personalized Surgery Go From Here?
For Morteza Meftah, MD, fellowship-trained hip and knee reconstruction surgeon and president of the Personalized Arthroplasty Society (PAS), the future of personalization depends on stronger evidence, broader collaboration and a deeper understanding of patient-specific factors.
“Personalization only moves forward if the evidence does,” Dr. Meftah says.
In the latest edition of Advita Ortho’s Ortho Impact, Dr. Meftah discusses the evolution of personalized knee replacement, the growing role of technology and data in surgical decision-making, and why the future of personalization may be less about where surgeons make their cuts and more about identifying the right surgical target for each patient.
