An AI healthcare company claims that its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional doctor evaluations.
Avenda Health conducted a study that involved ten physicians, each evaluating 50 prostate cancer cases. Their AI tool, Unfold, achieved a detection accuracy of 84.7%, while the doctors’ manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Collaborating with UCLA Health, the study was published in the Journal of Urology. It highlighted that using AI for cancer contouring made predictions about tumor size 45 times more accurate and consistent than without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor at UCLA and senior author of the study, noted that AI support enhanced doctors’ accuracy and consistency in evaluation, leading to greater agreement among them when using AI.
Current practices often rely on MRIs to determine tumor sizes; however, Dr. Wayne Brisbane from UCLA pointed out that some tumors are not visible on MRIs. AI technology proves beneficial in these challenging cases.
Brisbane emphasized that AI’s integration into cancer treatment could provide more effective and tailored patient care, ultimately improving treatment outcomes.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed that it is encouraging for healthcare professionals to witness the validation of such innovations through research and recognition from 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, with 1 in 44 expected to succumb to the illness. This year alone, the U.S. anticipates around 299,010 new prostate cancer cases, with an estimated 35,250 fatalities attributed to the disease.