An AI healthcare firm claims its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer compared to medical professionals.
Avenda Health conducted a study involving ten doctors who evaluated 50 different prostate cancer cases each. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy of 84.7% in cancer detection, whereas the physicians’ manual evaluations yielded accuracy rates ranging from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The research, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, highlighted that using AI for cancer contouring resulted in predictions of tumor size being 45 times more accurate and consistent than traditional methods.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and a senior author of the study, remarked that the integration of AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of doctors’ assessments, leading to greater agreement among them.
Typically, doctors rely on MRIs to evaluate tumor size; however, certain tumors can be “MRI-invisible,” explained Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. He noted that AI proves beneficial in situations where MRIs are limited.
Dr. Brisbane emphasized that employing AI in cancer treatment could facilitate more effective and personalized patient care, allowing for better-tailored treatments that enhance the chances of combating the disease. He further stated that AI has the potential to surpass human capabilities.
Avenda Health CEO Dr. Shyam Natarajan expressed pride in having their innovations validated through research and acknowledged by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, with 1 in 44 men succumbing to the illness. This year, it is estimated that 299,010 new prostate cancer cases will emerge in the United States, resulting in 35,250 fatalities from the disease.