A healthcare technology company focused on AI has announced that its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer than traditional methods used by doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study last month involving ten physicians who independently reviewed 50 different prostate cancer cases. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved a detection accuracy of 84.7%, while the doctors’ manual assessments varied from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This research, which was conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and appeared in the Journal of Urology, demonstrated that AI-enhanced cancer contouring significantly improved predictions of tumor size, producing results that were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments without AI.
According to Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, the use of AI assistance led to greater accuracy and consistency among doctors’ evaluations.
Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, highlighted the limitations of MRI scans, noting that some tumors can be “MRI-invisible.” He emphasized that AI technology can aid in cases where MRIs fall short.
Brisbane added that incorporating AI into cancer treatment could result in more effective and personalized care, allowing treatments to be better suited to individual patient needs and more successful in combating the disease. He stated that AI has the potential to “go beyond human ability.”
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed pride in the validation of their innovation through this study and recognition from the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the U.S. will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 will succumb to the disease. It is projected that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the U.S. this year, with 35,250 anticipated fatalities.