An AI healthcare company claims that its software is capable of detecting the extent of prostate cancer more accurately than traditional methods employed by doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study with ten doctors who evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases each. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the physicians’ manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Collaborating with UCLA Health, the study was published in the Journal of Urology and revealed that AI-assisted cancer contouring provided size predictions that were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to traditional methods.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and a senior author of the study, noted that AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of doctors’ assessments, leading to increased agreement among medical professionals.
Currently, doctors often rely on MRIs to determine tumor size; however, certain tumors can be “MRI-invisible,” according to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He highlighted that AI technology fills the gaps where MRIs fall short.
Brisbane emphasized that integrating AI in cancer treatment could enhance personalized care, leading to more effective and tailored treatments for patients, ultimately improving outcomes in the battle against the disease. He stated that AI has the potential to exceed human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed the excitement among physicians regarding the recognition of such innovations by studies and the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 will succumb to the disease. This year, an estimated 299,010 new prostate cancer cases are expected in the U.S., with 35,250 projected fatalities.