Avenda Health, an AI healthcare company, claims that its software can identify the extent of prostate cancer more accurately than medical professionals.
In a study conducted last month, ten doctors evaluated 50 different cases of prostate cancer. The findings revealed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the accuracy of the physicians, who assessed the cases manually, ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This research, in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, further indicated that incorporating AI for cancer contouring resulted in predictions of tumor size that were 45 times more precise and consistent compared to traditional methods.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the senior author of the study, remarked that the integration of AI assistance enhances both the accuracy and consistency of doctors’ assessments, leading to greater agreement among them.
Typically, doctors rely on MRIs to gauge tumor size; however, certain tumors are difficult to detect through MRI. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, explained that AI proves invaluable in situations where MRIs fall short. He added that leveraging AI in cancer treatment could foster more effective and personalized patient care, enabling treatments to be better aligned with individual needs and improving outcomes in battling the disease.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed that it is empowering for physicians to have this type of innovation validated through research and recognized by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the disease. It is projected that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the US this year, with an estimated 35,250 deaths resulting from the illness.