A healthcare technology company claims that its software can detect prostate cancer more accurately than traditional methods used by doctors. Avenda Health’s Unfold AI software demonstrated an accuracy rate of 84.7% in identifying cancer, compared to the accuracy rates of physicians, which ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This finding comes from a study involving ten doctors who evaluated 50 different prostate cancer cases. Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, the research indicated that when using AI for cancer contouring, predictions regarding cancer size were 45 times more accurate and consistent than those made without AI assistance.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, noted that AI support improved not only the accuracy of doctors but also their consistency in assessments, leading to better agreement among physicians.
Traditionally, doctors rely on MRI scans to determine tumor sizes, but some tumors remain “MRI-invisible,” according to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, who is an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. He emphasized that AI can address limitations that MRIs present.
Brisbane also highlighted that the integration of AI in cancer treatment can foster more personalized and effective care tailored to the unique needs of patients, enhancing the chances of successful outcomes.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed that it is motivating for physicians to witness such innovations being validated and recognized by professional organizations like the American Medical Association (AMA).
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the disease. It is estimated that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S. this year, with 35,250 fatalities attributed to the disease.