A healthcare technology firm has announced that its software is capable of detecting prostate cancer more accurately than medical professionals.
Avenda Health conducted a study involving ten physicians who evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases each. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, compared to the manual detection accuracy of the doctors, which ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The research, a collaboration with UCLA Health published in the Journal of Urology, also found that AI-assisted cancer contouring led to predictions of cancer size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent than those made without AI.
Shyam Natarajan, the assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and senior author of the study, commented on the findings, stating that the use of AI assistance not only improved the accuracy of doctors but also made their assessments more consistent.
Typically, doctors utilize MRI scans to evaluate tumor sizes; however, some tumors are not visible on MRIs. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, explained that AI can identify these “MRI-invisible” tumors. He emphasized that leveraging AI in cancer treatment could enhance personalized care for patients and improve treatment outcomes.
Dr. Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed excitement about the validation of their innovation through this study and recognition 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 lifetimes, and 1 in 44 will succumb to the disease. In 2023, it is estimated that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the US, with 35,250 resulting in death.