An artificial intelligence healthcare company claims that its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by doctors.
Avenda Health published findings last month revealing that its Unfold AI software detected prostate cancer with an accuracy rate of 84.7%. In contrast, the accuracy of the ten doctors participating in the study ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%. Each physician evaluated 50 different prostate cancer cases as part of the research.
Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and featured in the Journal of Urology, the study also emphasized that utilizing AI for cancer contouring yielded predictions about tumor size that were 45 times more precise compared to assessments made without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA, and the study’s senior author, noted that the integration of AI support enhanced both the accuracy and consistency of the doctors’ evaluations. This led to higher agreement levels among physicians when they utilized AI.
Typically, doctors rely on MRI scans to determine tumor sizes; however, some tumors are “MRI-invisible,” as stated by Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He highlighted that AI technology can be particularly beneficial in situations where MRI scans are inadequate.
Brisbane remarked that incorporating AI into cancer treatment holds the potential for delivering more effective and personalized care, with treatments designed to meet individual patient needs and improve disease management. He added that AI capabilities could extend beyond human limits.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed that it is encouraging for healthcare professionals to see innovations in the field supported by research and acknowledged by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one in eight men in the United States will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis during their lives, and one in 44 will succumb to the illness. The society anticipates that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases this year in the U.S., with 35,250 fatalities attributed to the disease.