An artificial intelligence healthcare company has announced that its software can identify the severity of prostate cancer with greater accuracy than traditional methods used by doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a recent study involving ten doctors who analyzed 50 different prostate cancer cases each. The study revealed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, whereas the physicians’ manual detections varied between 67.2% and 75.9%.
The research, carried out in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, also demonstrated that AI-assisted cancer contouring led to predictions of tumor size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments made without AI support.
According to Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, the integration of AI in the diagnostic process made doctors more precise and consistent in their evaluations, resulting in greater agreement among them when AI was utilized.
Traditionally, doctors rely on MRIs to assess tumor size. However, Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, noted that certain tumors are “MRI-invisible.” He stated that AI technology can fill the gaps where MRIs do not provide sufficient insight.
Brisbane emphasized that the adoption of AI in cancer treatment has the potential to enhance personalized care, allowing for treatments that align more closely with individual patient needs and improving success rates in combating the disease. He also remarked that AI capabilities can surpass human analytical skills.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed optimism about the validation of such innovations through research and recognition from 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 during their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the illness. The organization estimates that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the U.S. this year, with 35,250 fatalities from the disease.