An artificial intelligence healthcare company claims its software is capable of detecting the extent of prostate cancer more accurately than human doctors.
Avenda Health revealed findings from a recent study involving ten physicians who evaluated 50 unique prostate cancer cases each. Their AI tool, named Unfold AI, achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7%, whereas the doctors’ manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, the research indicated that when AI assisted in cancer contouring, evaluations of tumor size were 45 times more precise and consistent compared to practices without AI intervention.
According to Shyam Natarajan, a senior author of the study and assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA, the integration of AI led to improved accuracy and consistency among physicians, resulting in greater agreement in their assessments.
Typically, doctors rely on MRIs to determine tumor sizes; however, some tumors are not visible through these scans. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, noted that AI can help identify tumors that MRIs cannot detect.
Brisbane added that utilizing AI in cancer treatment could result in more effective, personalized patient care, allowing for treatments that cater to individual needs and enhance the likelihood of successful disease management. He emphasized AI’s potential to surpass human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed that it is encouraging for doctors to see such innovations validated through research and recognized by the American Medical Association.
In the United States, approximately 1 in 8 men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis during their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. It is projected that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the U.S. this year, with an estimated 35,250 deaths resulting from the illness.