Innovation in hand surgery - analysing fifty years of patent data

Innovation drives progress in hand surgery, yet long-term technological trends are rarely quantified. Patent filings provide a record of commercial and research activity and can be used to examine how innovation evolves over time. This study aims to provide a overview of long-term overview of innovation patterns in hand surgery and highlight areas of growing technological interest.

A retrospective review of patent records from 1970 to 2023 was conducted using the Lens.org global database. Search terms were derived from British Society for Surgery of the Hand patient resources and refined using Cooperative Patent Classification codes for Medical Science (A61). Patents were categorized into technological clusters based on abstract review, and longitudinal trends were analysed.

A total of 3222 relevant patents were identified. Activity increased substantially over the study period, with the highest volumes in the last two decades. The largest technological clusters were prosthetics and implants (n = 739), surgical techniques (n = 689) and fracture management (n = 384). While core surgical tools remain dominant, recent years showed rapid growth in robotics, sensor-based devices and advanced imaging. Geographically, the USA accounted for the majority of filings, although the numbers of contributions from China and South Korea have risen markedly in recent years.

Patent activity in hand surgery over the last five decades has expanded both in volume and scope, reflecting the influence of emerging technologies. While the majority consist of prosthetics and fracture fixation innovations, there is a more recent increase in patents for digitally based technologies. These trends highlight the diversification of technology and globalization of the research landscape.