An AI healthcare firm claims its software offers more precise detection of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by doctors.
Avenda Health recently published a study involving ten doctors who evaluated 50 different cases of prostate cancer. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved a detection accuracy of 84.7%, while the physicians’ manual assessments resulted in accuracy rates ranging from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, this study also revealed that using AI for cancer contouring resulted in predictions of tumor size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments made without AI.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, noted that AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of doctors’ assessments, leading to greater agreement among the physicians involved.
Traditionally, doctors have relied on MRI scans to gauge tumor size. However, some tumors are not detectable through MRI, a limitation that AI can help overcome, according to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.
Dr. Brisbane emphasized that incorporating AI into cancer treatment could provide patients with more effective and personalized care, allowing for treatments better suited to their individual needs. He stated that AI has the potential to surpass human capabilities in this area.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed pride in seeing such innovations being validated through research and recognized by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the disease. This year, an estimated 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer are expected in the U.S., with 35,250 fatalities anticipated.