An artificial intelligence healthcare company claims that its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer compared to medical professionals.
Avenda Health conducted a study that involved ten doctors evaluating 50 different prostate cancer cases. The results indicated that Avenda’s Unfold AI software detected cancer with an accuracy rate of 84.7%, while physicians assessing the cancer manually had accuracy rates ranging from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The research, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, revealed that AI-assisted cancer contouring predictions of tumor size were 45 times more precise and consistent than those made without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA, and senior author of the study, noted that AI assistance improved both accuracy and consistency among doctors, leading to greater agreement on assessments.
Traditionally, doctors rely on MRIs to evaluate tumor sizes, but according to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, certain tumors may not be visible on MRIs. He stated that AI technology can bridge this gap.
Dr. Brisbane emphasized that incorporating AI into cancer treatment may pave the way for more effective and personalized patient care, allowing treatments to be better adapted to individual needs and more effective against the disease, highlighting AI’s potential to surpass human capabilities.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed that it is empowering for physicians to witness such innovation being validated through research and recognized by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the illness. This year, it is estimated that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the U.S., with 35,250 anticipated deaths from the disease.