A healthcare technology company, Avenda Health, has announced that its AI software for prostate cancer detection surpasses the accuracy of traditional diagnostic methods used by physicians. In a recent study involving ten doctors, each examining 50 prostate cancer cases, Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an impressive accuracy rate of 84.7%. In contrast, the manual assessments by doctors ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This study, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, highlighted the significant advantages of using AI in the assessment of cancer. It found that the AI-assisted contouring of cancer led to predictions 45 times more accurate in estimating tumor size compared to traditional methods.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor at UCLA and the senior author of the study, remarked that AI support not only enhanced the accuracy of the doctors but also increased their consistency in diagnosis. He noted that when utilizing AI assistance, there was a greater alignment in the doctors’ assessments.
Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA, pointed out that while doctors typically rely on MRI scans to gauge tumor sizes, certain tumors are “MRI-invisible.” Here, AI plays a crucial role by identifying issues that traditional imaging techniques may overlook.
Brisbane also emphasized the potential of AI in cancer treatment, suggesting that it could pave the way for more personalized and effective patient care, allowing treatments to be specifically tailored to individual cases.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed his pride in seeing such innovative technology validated through research and recognized by the American Medical Association (AMA).
In the United States, approximately 1 in 8 men will face a prostate cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the illness, based on data from the American Cancer Society. The current projections for 2023 estimate about 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer, with approximately 35,250 fatalities related to the disease.
As the integration of AI technology continues to advance in the medical field, there is growing hope that such innovations could drastically improve diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes in the fight against prostate cancer and perhaps redefine how healthcare is delivered overall. This is a promising step toward more effective treatment strategies that leverage cutting-edge technology to enhance human capabilities.