An artificial intelligence healthcare company asserts that its software can identify the extent of prostate cancer more accurately than medical professionals.
Avenda Health recently published a study involving ten doctors who evaluated 50 separate prostate cancer cases each. The findings revealed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the accuracy of physicians employing manual methods ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and featured in the Journal of Urology, the study also indicated that using AI for cancer contouring led to predictions of tumor size that were 45 times more precise and consistent compared to traditional methods.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the senior author of the study, commented that AI assistance improves both the accuracy and consistency of doctors’ assessments, resulting in greater agreement among them.
Typically, doctors rely on MRIs to determine tumor sizes; however, some tumors are challenging to detect using this method, as noted by Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He stated that AI can provide insights where MRIs fall short.
Brisbane further explained that integrating AI into cancer care could lead to more effective and personalized treatment options, tailored to meet individual patient needs, and enhance the chances of combating the disease. He emphasized that AI can surpass human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, highlighted the significance of such innovations being validated through research and acknowledged by the American Medical Association (AMA).
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and one in 44 men will succumb to the disease. This year, the U.S. is projected to see around 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer, with an estimated 35,250 deaths resulting from it.