Avenda Health has announced that its artificial intelligence (AI) software can more accurately determine the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods employed by medical professionals.
In a study conducted last month, ten doctors analyzed 50 prostate cancer cases each, while Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7%. In contrast, the human doctors’ accuracy ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This research, carried out in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, revealed that AI-assisted cancer contouring predictions were 45 times more precise and consistent than those made without AI involvement.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, stated that integrating AI assistance improved both accuracy and consistency among doctors, leading to greater agreement in their assessments.
Typically, doctors rely on MRI scans to evaluate tumor sizes; however, some tumors can be “MRI-invisible.” Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, noted that AI technology fills the gaps where MRI may fail.
Brisbane emphasized that employing AI in cancer treatment could enhance personalized care, resulting in therapies tailored to individual patient needs and more effective outcomes in combating the disease. He remarked that AI can surpass human capabilities in this context.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed that it’s encouraging for physicians to witness such innovation being validated through research and acknowledged by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will face a prostate cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, with 1 in 44 succumbing to the illness. It is projected that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States this year, with 35,250 anticipated deaths due to the disease.