An artificial intelligence healthcare company claims its software is able to more accurately determine the extent of prostate cancer compared to human doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study in collaboration with UCLA Health, involving ten doctors who evaluated 50 different prostate cancer cases. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the physicians’ manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The research, published in the Journal of Urology, revealed that the integration of AI in cancer contouring significantly improved the predictions of tumor size—making them 45 times more accurate and consistent than assessments made without AI.
The study’s senior author, Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA, pointed out that AI assistance not only enhanced doctors’ accuracy but also fostered greater consensus among them when interpreting results.
Typically, doctors utilize MRIs to gauge tumor size; however, some tumors may not be detectable through this imaging method. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, noted that AI fills the gaps where MRIs fall short.
Brisbane emphasized that employing AI in cancer treatment could lead to more effective and personalized patient care, allowing treatments to be better suited to individual needs and enhancing their success rates against the disease. He remarked that AI has the potential to surpass human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed optimism about the validation of their innovation through studies and recognition by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, with a 1 in 44 chance of dying from the illness. It is estimated that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the U.S. this year, with 35,250 fatalities attributed to the disease.