An artificial intelligence healthcare company claims that its software can more accurately determine the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by doctors.
Avenda Health recently published a study involving ten physicians who evaluated 50 cases of prostate cancer each. The findings revealed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the accuracy of the doctors ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and featured in the Journal of Urology, the study also highlighted that AI-assisted cancer contouring resulted in predictions of tumor size being 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to evaluations conducted without AI support.
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 assistance improved the accuracy and consistency of doctors, leading to greater agreement among them during evaluations.
While physicians typically rely on MRIs to assess tumor size, some tumors are not visible using this method, according to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. AI technology proves beneficial in such instances where MRIs fall short.
Dr. Brisbane emphasized that the integration of AI in cancer treatment could pave the way for more effective and personalized healthcare, resulting in treatments better suited to individual patient needs and enhancing the chances of combating the disease.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed that it is “empowering for physicians to see this kind of innovation being validated through studies and recognized by the AMA.”
The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the illness. In 2023, it is expected that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States, with 35,250 resulting in death.