An artificial intelligence healthcare company claims that its software can detect the extent of prostate cancer with greater accuracy than traditional methods used by doctors.
Avenda Health published a study last month that involved ten physicians, each assessing 50 distinct cases of prostate cancer. The findings revealed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer. In contrast, the accuracy of physicians performing manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and featured in the Journal of Urology, the study also demonstrated that when doctors utilized AI for cancer contouring, the predictions regarding cancer size became 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to manual methods.
Shyam Natarajan, assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, noted that employing AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency among physicians, indicating that doctors were more likely to reach a consensus when using AI tools.
While doctors often rely on MRIs to gauge tumor size, some tumors are not visible through this imaging technique. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, stated that AI can fill the gaps where MRIs are ineffective.
“The integration of AI in cancer treatment potentially allows for more effective and personalized patient care, leading to treatments that better align with individual needs and enhance the success of combating the disease,” Brisbane commented. He emphasized that AI has the capability to “exceed human abilities.”
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed that it is “empowering for physicians to witness this type of innovation validated through research and acknowledged by the AMA.”
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives, with a mortality rate of about 1 in 44. It is projected that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the U.S. this year, resulting in 35,250 deaths from the disease.