Comprehensive Summary
This study conducted by Sanker et al. evaluates the use of AI in spine surgery. The researchers gathered records related to spine surgery, Large language model (LLM) and natural language processing (NLP) from multiple databases until June 16th 2025. After manual screening 221 records, the researchers ended up with 37 studies, which they classified and summarized. Sanker et al. concluded that AI models have been tested in various areas of spinal surgery, including decision-making, patient counseling, post-operative care, research and classification paperwork. Nevertheless, these AI models have various drawbacks, including its accuracy and lack of generalizability. The researchers therefore conclude the need for further improvement of NLPs and LLMs in its accuracy to have a significant role in the field of spine surgery.
Outcomes and Implications
Spine surgery is a domain that requires much accuracy and resources managing patients and paperwork. As a result, AI may play a big role in automating certain tasks. There have been various attempts in testing LLMs or NLPs in spinal surgery. Therefore, a scoping review can help evaluate our current status and find areas of improvements. Currently, AI still suffers from issues that cannot be ignored. However, with further improvement and human supervision, it can be realistic to trust these language models to perform certain tasks.