LLMs can apply OTA/AO classification to fracture radiology reports reliably at the broad level — but subgroup accuracy fails where it matters, and hallucinations occur in documented, specific ways. Here is what that means in practice.
Evidence-reviewed. Citations throughout. The most dangerous thing about a wrong answer is not that it is wrong. It is that it sounds confident. In orthopaedic practice, this problem has a name everyone recognises: the missed scaphoid. A normal-looking X-ray. An unremarkable report. A patient who returns six weeks later with avascular necrosis and a question … Read more
Evidence-reviewed. Citations throughout. Degenerative cervical myelopathy is the most common cause of non-traumatic spinal cord injury in adults and one of the most consequential diagnoses to miss. The pathology is progressive, the window for intervention matters, and the early signs on MRI — subtle cord signal change, mild compression at a single level — are … Read more
Evidence-reviewed. Citations throughout. A patient presents to the emergency department with a spreading soft tissue infection and fever. The orthopaedic team is asked to review. Inflammatory markers are elevated, the limb is swollen and tender, and the clinical picture is consistent with serious deep infection — but the critical question is not yet answered: is … Read more
Evidence-reviewed. Citations throughout. The ED doctor is confident. The AI has cleared the radiograph. The patient has a tender anatomical snuffbox and a mechanism consistent with a scaphoid injury. The question you are answering — at 3am, on the phone — is whether you trust the algorithm. This is not a hypothetical. AI-based fracture detection … Read more