A healthcare technology company has reported that its software can detect prostate cancer more precisely than traditional methods used by doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study involving ten doctors who each evaluated 50 cases of prostate cancer. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7%, surpassing the manual detection rates of physicians, which ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This research, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, also revealed that predictions of tumor size were 45 times more accurate when assisted by AI, compared to methods that did not utilize AI.
According to Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, the incorporation of AI assistance not only improved accuracy but also enhanced consistency among doctors.
While doctors typically rely on MRIs to assess tumor sizes, some tumors remain undetectable through this imaging technique, described by Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA. He noted that AI technology can fill in the gaps where MRIs fall short.
Brisbane emphasized that utilizing AI in cancer treatment could lead to more effective, personalized care, resulting in treatments that are better adapted to patients’ specific conditions and more successful in combating the illness. He remarked that AI has the potential to “go beyond human ability.”
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed optimism about the validation of this innovation through research, which has gained recognition by the AMA.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, with 1 in 44 men ultimately succumbing to the disease. For 2023, it is estimated that there will be around 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S., with 35,250 fatalities resulting from the illness.