An artificial intelligence healthcare company has announced that its software can more accurately determine the extent of prostate cancer than human doctors.
A recent study by Avenda Health, in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, involved ten physicians who each evaluated 50 cases of prostate cancer. The results indicated that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in cancer detection, while the accuracy of the physicians’ manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Additionally, the study highlighted that AI-assisted cancer contouring resulted in predictions of tumor size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments made without AI.
Shyam Natarajan, assistant adjunct professor at UCLA and senior author of the study, stated that AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of the doctors’ evaluations, leading to increased agreement among them when using AI tools.
Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA, elaborated on the limitations of MRI technology in identifying certain tumors, which can be “MRI-invisible.” He noted that AI can assist in scenarios where MRI fails.
Brisbane emphasized that incorporating AI into cancer treatment holds the potential for more effective and personalized patient care, leading to tailored treatments that better address individual patient needs and enhance success rates in combating the disease.
Avenda Health CEO Dr. Shyam Natarajan expressed his excitement about the validation of such innovations through research and the recognition by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, about 1 in 8 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 will die from it. It is projected that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S. this year, with an estimated 35,250 fatalities resulting from the disease.