An AI healthcare firm claims its software can detect the extent of prostate cancer more accurately than human doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study last month with ten doctors who each evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the doctors’ manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The research, in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, revealed that AI-assisted cancer contouring predictions of tumor size were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to traditional methods.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and senior author of the study, noted that the use of AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of diagnoses, leading to greater agreement among doctors.
Typically, doctors utilize MRIs to gauge tumor size, but some tumors are “MRI-invisible,” according to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. He emphasized that AI can be valuable in areas where MRIs may fall short.
Brisbane added that incorporating AI in cancer treatment could result in more effective and personalized healthcare for patients, allowing for treatments that are better suited to individual needs and more successful in combatting the disease. He highlighted that AI has the potential to exceed human capabilities.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed the significance of having such innovations validated through research and recognized by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 will succumb to the disease. This year, it is estimated that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the US, with 35,250 deaths attributed to the disease.