IIT Guwahati Develops AI-Assisted Model To Predict Bone Repair Outcomes For Fracture-Treatment Methods

The AI-based simulation model can potentially help a surgeon choose the right implant or technique before a fracture-treatment surgery.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati researchers have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model to predict the healing of thigh bone fractures after surgery. The model developed by Dr Souptick Chanda, Assistant Professor, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Guwahati, and his team can be used to assess the healing outcomes of different fracture fixation strategies so that an optimum strategy can be chosen for the patient depending on their personal physiologies and fracture type. Using such precision models can reduce the healing time, and lighten the economic burden and pain for patients who need thigh fracture treatment.

Speaking about the research, Dr Souptick Chanda, Assistant Professor, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Guwahati, said, “AI has tremendous potential when it comes to understanding and predicting complex biological phenomena and hence, can play a big role in health sciences applications.”

The research team have used a combination of Finite Element Analysis and the AI tool, Fuzzy Logic to understand the healing process of fracture after various treatment methods. The study further examined the influence of different screw fixation mechanisms to compare the fracture healing efficacies of each process.

IIT Guwahati’s AI-based simulation model can potentially help a surgeon choose the right implant or technique before a fracture-treatment surgery. In addition to various biological and patient-specific parameters, the model can also account for different clinical phenomena, such as smoking, diabetes, and others. The model can also be adapted for veterinary fractures which are, physiologically and in various aspects, similar to those occurring in human patients.