Avenda Health, an AI healthcare company, claims that its software can more accurately determine the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by doctors.
In a recent study involving ten physicians assessing 50 different prostate cancer cases, Avenda’s Unfold AI software demonstrated an accuracy rate of 84.7%. In contrast, the accuracy of doctors evaluating the cancer manually 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 resulted in size predictions that were 45 times more precise and consistent than those made without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, noted that AI technology improved both the accuracy and consistency of doctors’ assessments, leading to greater agreement among them.
Urology expert Dr. Wayne Brisbane from UCLA highlighted that while physicians often rely on MRIs to gauge tumor size, some tumors are “MRI-invisible,” and AI can fill this gap. He emphasized that AI’s capabilities may surpass those of humans in identifying and treating cancer effectively.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed enthusiasm about the study’s validation and the recognition of their innovation by the American Medical Association (AMA).
Statistics from the American Cancer Society indicate that approximately 1 in 8 men will develop prostate cancer in their lives, with 1 in 44 men succumbing to the illness. This year, it is estimated that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the US, with 35,250 resulting in death.