Surgeon uses AI to share innovations worldwide

As an innovator in hip surgeries, Dr. Richard Santore, an orthopedic surgeon affiliated with Sharp Memorial Hospital, is in high demand as a guest speaker. Affectionately known as “Dr. S.,” Santore travels about two dozen times yearly, both nationally and abroad.

His trips have taken him around the globe, from being feted as the guest of honor by the President of the European Hip Society in Bern, Switzerland, to presenting as a keynote speaker at a conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

“It’s wonderful to meet colleagues from every corner of the planet,” Santore says. “It’s a great way to stay at the forefront of our field by comparing notes on new advancements and how we can be constantly working to improve care for our patients.”

This year, the Chinese Hip Preservation Society invited him to its annual meeting. Dr. Santore was excited to accept — until he realized he was already committed to attending an event in London, England, at that same time.

He began thinking of ways he could use technology to give the presentation in China while attending the event in London. He wanted to be far more ambitious than simply joining by Zoom. He wanted to do the presentation in Mandarin — a language he does not speak.

A breakthrough in hip surgeries

Specifically, the Chinese Hip Preservation Society wanted Dr. Santore to share his expertise in periacetabular osteotomy (PAO), a surgery that he was an early adopter of after it was developed in the late 1980s.

The surgery is a treatment for hip dysplasia, a painful condition in which the pelvis socket is too shallow to fully cover and support the top of the femur (thigh bone). Untreated, this can progress to advanced arthritis and, ultimately, require total hip replacement.

A genetic trait most common in women, symptoms of hip dysplasia often don’t begin until the late teenage and young adult years, after childbirth or later.

Symptoms include:

• Hip pain in the groin

• A feeling that the hip is unstable

• Limping

• Clicking or popping sensations and sounds with certain movements

During the PAO, the surgeon cuts through the pelvis and detaches the socket. It’s then rotated to cover the top of the femur more effectively and secured in place with screws.

“It almost immediately relieves pain and gives patients a dramatic improvement in how they feel,” Dr. Santore says.

Faster recovery

Along with PAO procedures, Dr. Santore performs total joint, hip and knee surgeries. Innovations in those fields over the last ten years allowed the surgeries to be performed as outpatient procedures, a significant improvement for patients.

“It’s been revolutionary,” Dr. Santore says. “Instead of needing two weeks in the hospital after the surgery, some patients can now be home, pain-free, in time for dinner that same night.”

Dr. Santore began working on how to bring that same outpatient innovation to PAOs. In 2019, he performed such a procedure at Sharp Memorial, becoming the first surgeon in the world to do so.

Presenting in Mandarin

Dr. Santore elected to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for the Chinese Hip Preservation Society. He then asked Robert Healey, director of research of the Sharp Memorial Hospital Hip Preservation Center, to explore using the latest advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology to translate it.

The results were astonishing. Not only could his words be translated into Mandarin, but the presentation could also use Dr. Santore’s voice. Furthermore, his lips were adjusted to match the words in his video, avoiding the distraction that can be caused when words in one language are dubbed into another.

When Dr. Santore sent the presentation to the conference hosts, the response was terrific. “They told me it took them several minutes before they remembered that I couldn’t speak Mandarin,” Dr. Santore says.

The next steps

The presentation was an immediate hit at the conference. “The feedback I got was incredible,” Dr. Santore says. “They sent a beautiful email calling my teaching ‘invaluable.’”

The group has already invited Dr. Santore back in 2025 — this time, in person. It’s an invitation Dr. Santore accepted with pleasure. However, he already realizes he will have a problem. “They told me my presentation was in perfect Mandarin, so I will have a hard time next year because everyone will assume I speak the language!” he says.

Delighted that language no longer needs to be a barrier to connecting and sharing knowledge with colleagues around the world, Dr. Santore has already used AI technology to translate his presentation into Korean, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and German.

“It’s really quite exciting,” Dr. Santore says. “I’m going to take full advantage of this.”

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