Advancing osteoarthritis research: the role of AI in clinical, imaging and omics fields.

Journal: Bone research
PMID:

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease with significant clinical and societal impact. Traditional diagnostic methods, including subjective clinical assessments and imaging techniques such as X-rays and MRIs, are often limited in their ability to detect early-stage OA or capture subtle joint changes. These limitations result in delayed diagnoses and inconsistent outcomes. Additionally, the analysis of omics data is challenged by the complexity and high dimensionality of biological datasets, making it difficult to identify key molecular mechanisms and biomarkers. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) offer transformative potential to address these challenges. This review systematically explores the integration of AI into OA research, focusing on applications such as AI-driven early screening and risk prediction from electronic health records (EHR), automated grading and morphological analysis of imaging data, and biomarker discovery through multi-omics integration. By consolidating progress across clinical, imaging, and omics domains, this review provides a comprehensive perspective on how AI is reshaping OA research. The findings have the potential to drive innovations in personalized medicine and targeted interventions, addressing longstanding challenges in OA diagnosis and management.

Authors

  • Jingfeng Ou
    Shenzhen Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China.
  • Jin Zhang
    Department of Otolaryngology, The Second People's Hospital of Yibin, Yibin, Sichuan, China.
  • Momen Alswadeh
    Shenzhen Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China.
  • Zhenglin Zhu
    Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing.
  • Jijun Tang
    School of Computer Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China. jtang@cse.sc.edu.
  • Hongxun Sang
    Shenzhen Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China. hxsang@smu.edu.cn.
  • Ke Lu
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: luk@ucas.ac.cn.