An AI healthcare company claims its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer than human doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study involving ten physicians, each evaluating 50 prostate cancer cases. The firm’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, whereas the manual assessments by doctors ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The research, carried out in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, revealed that AI-assisted contouring of cancer resulted in size predictions that were 45 times more accurate and reliable compared to assessments without AI support.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, noted that AI assistance led to greater accuracy and consistency among doctors, resulting in a higher level of agreement when utilizing AI tools.
Typically, physicians rely on MRI scans to determine tumor sizes; however, some tumors are not visible on MRIs, according to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA. He emphasized that AI fills the gaps where MRI imaging fails.
Brisbane added that the integration of AI in cancer treatment could enhance personalized care, tailoring treatments to individual patient needs and improving success rates against the disease. He remarked that AI has the potential to surpass human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed that it is encouraging for physicians to see innovations like this validated through research and acknowledged by the American Medical Association.
The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 1 in 8 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes, with 1 in 44 ultimately succumbing to the disease. It is projected that in 2023, there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S., resulting in 35,250 deaths.