An AI healthcare company claims that its software can more accurately determine the extent of prostate cancer compared to medical professionals.
Avenda Health conducted a study last month involving ten doctors who evaluated 50 different prostate cancer cases. The study revealed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, significantly outperforming the doctors, whose accuracy ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This research, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, demonstrated that the use of AI for cancer contouring resulted in predictions of tumor size being 45 times more accurate and consistent when compared to traditional methods without AI support.
According to Shyam Natarajan, assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and lead author of the study, the introduction of AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of diagnoses among doctors, leading to greater agreement in their assessments.
Typically, doctors utilize MRIs to assess tumor size, but some tumors remain “MRI-invisible,” as noted by Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA. He emphasized that AI fills the gaps where MRIs may fall short.
Brisbane stated that integrating AI in cancer treatment could enhance personalized care for patients, allowing for treatments that are more effectively tailored to individual requirements and have a higher success rate in combating cancer.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, highlighted the significance of these innovative advancements being validated through research and acknowledged by the American Medical Association (AMA).
The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, and 1 in 44 will die from the illness. In the United States, it is projected that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases this year, with 35,250 fatalities attributed to the disease.