An AI healthcare company claims its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer than doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study last month with ten physicians evaluating 50 prostate cancer cases each. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while doctors’ manual evaluations ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, the study also revealed that AI-assisted cancer contouring provided predictions of tumor size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to traditional methods.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology at UCLA and senior author of the study, noted that the incorporation of AI assistance led to increased accuracy and consistency among physicians.
Doctors typically rely on MRIs to evaluate tumor size, but some tumors may not be visible in these scans. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA, pointed out that AI can help identify tumors that are “MRI-invisible.”
Brisbane stated that the integration of AI in cancer treatment could enhance personalized care, allowing for treatment plans more suited to each patient’s needs and improving success rates in combating the disease.
Avenda Health CEO Dr. Natarajan expressed optimism about the validation of this innovation through research and recognition by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes, and about 1 in 44 men will succumb to the illness. An estimated 299,010 new cases are expected in the US this year, with 35,250 resulting in death.