An AI healthcare company claims that its software is capable of detecting the extent of prostate cancer with greater accuracy than medical professionals.
Avenda Health conducted a study involving ten doctors who each evaluated 50 different prostate cancer cases. The results showed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7%, while the physicians’ accuracy ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The study, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, also revealed that AI assistance improved predictions of cancer size, making them 45 times more accurate and consistent.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, noted that the integration of AI made physicians more precise and consistent in their assessments, leading to greater agreement among doctors when using the AI tool.
Traditionally, doctors rely on MRIs to determine tumor size; however, some tumors remain “MRI-invisible,” as highlighted by Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He emphasized that AI can effectively address the limitations of MRIs.
Dr. Brisbane further stated that utilizing AI in cancer treatment could pave the way for more effective, personalized care, allowing for treatments that are better suited to individual patient needs and more successful in combating the disease. He asserted that AI has the capability to exceed human potential.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed that witnessing such innovations validated by research is empowering for physicians, especially with recognition from the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, and about 1 in 44 men will succumb to the disease. It is estimated that this year in the U.S., there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases, with 35,250 anticipated fatalities from the disease.