An artificial intelligence system now being used for hip replacement surgeries at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream hospital is helping to more accurately pinpoint the placement of new hips and is reducing the time to prepare for the surgeries — with CT results in minutes instead of weeks, doctors say.

The software is part of a rapidly expanding use of artificial intelligence in medical settings on Long Island and nationwide.

Dorothy Martino, 75, of Oceanside, who hospital officials say is the first U.S. patient to undergo an operation with the system, developed by the Swedish company Ortoma, said that before her May 1 surgery, "I was using a cane to get around." She relied on her daughter for basic household tasks such as carrying grocery bags and bringing laundry up and down the stairs.

"Sleeping was almost impossible," she said, because any time she moved, the pain would wake her up.

On Wednesday, Martino was miniature golfing on the Jersey Shore.

"It’s like a whole new life," she said. "I got my independence back."

The worldwide market for AI in health care is expected to grow from about $22 billion in 2025 to $111 billion by 2030, according to an analysis by the market research firm Research and Markets.

A 2022 National Academy of Sciences review of artificial intelligence in health care found it offers "unprecedented opportunities to improve patient and clinical team outcomes." But the report said its success depends in part on how well algorithms in the systems are developed, and said that the technology presents privacy concerns because of the sensitivity of medical data.

Long Island Jewish Valley Stream also is using AI elsewhere in the hospital, such as to help with administrative work so health care providers can spend more time with patients, and is reviewing a system that uses a camera to monitor hospital patients’ movements to alert providers whether they’re at high risk of falls, said hospital president Jason Tan.

"It’s the future, there’s no doubt about it," he said.

But, he added, "It has to be seen as a way to enhance the clinician’s decision-making versus replacing the clinician’s decision-making."

Dr. James Germano, chairman of orthopedics at the Valley Stream hospital and a vice president of orthopedics at Northwell Health, said he traveled to Sweden in February to observe and participate in an operation using the system, and before that, he tested it on several cadavers.

One of the major uses is pre-operation. Usually doctors have to wait up to two weeks for the results of a CT scan that is needed to determine the positioning of the new hip, Germano said. It has to be sent to someone for analysis and measurements, and then those recommendations are sent back to the surgeon.

With AI, it’s done in three or four minutes, he said.

"Obviously, because it's AI, we as the surgeons have to review it all," Germano added.

During surgery, the system helps guide the placement of the prosthetic hip socket, also called a cup, he said.

"So I'm not only seeing visually with my own eyes in the operating room where it's being positioned, like I classically do," he said. "I'm also able to see on the computer screen where — like almost looking three-dimensionally — exactly where that cup is sitting in that individual's pelvis."

That leads to a greater chance of the most precise positioning, Germano said.

"Instead of me saying, ‘Yeah, that looks pretty right of where it's supposed to be,’ I now have the exact data on the computer screen that [shows] the angle, the positioning, the depth of the cup and where it is in relation" to the rest of the body, he said.

Germano now has performed six surgeries with the system in Valley Stream and in all of them, it "worked great," he said. Germano said Valley Stream is still the only U.S. hospital with the system, and he plans to train other surgeons in its use.

Germano said he has had to make some changes, in part because the greater percentage of overweight people in the United States means that instruments surgeons use with the system have to be designed for larger bodies.