An AI healthcare company has announced that its software can identify prostate cancer more accurately than medical professionals.
Avenda Health released a study last month involving ten doctors, each of whom evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the physicians’ manual assessments resulted in accuracy rates ranging from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The study, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, revealed that when AI was used to assist in cancer contouring, predictions of tumor size were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments made without AI assistance.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, stated that the use of AI technology enhanced both the accuracy and consistency of the doctors’ assessments, leading to greater agreement among them when utilizing AI tools.
Typically, doctors rely on MRI scans to determine the size of tumors. However, some tumors are not visible on MRIs. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, emphasized that AI is particularly beneficial in these challenging cases, stating that it “helps where MRIs fail.”
According to Dr. Brisbane, incorporating AI into cancer treatment could result in more effective and personalized patient care, with therapies better suited to individual needs and more successful in combating the disease. He noted that AI has the potential to exceed human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, remarked on the significance of this innovation being validated through research and recognized by the American Medical Association.
In the United States, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. This year, it is estimated that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S., with 35,250 resulting in fatalities.