A healthcare company specializing in artificial intelligence reports that its software is capable of detecting prostate cancer with greater accuracy than traditional methods employed by doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study with ten physicians who evaluated 50 different cases of prostate cancer each. Their AI software, known as Unfold AI, detected cancer with an accuracy of 84.7%. In comparison, the accuracy of the doctors’ manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This study, which was done in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, also revealed that AI-assisted cancer contouring resulted in predictions of tumor size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments made without AI support.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the senior author of the study, stated that the integration of AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of the doctors’ assessments.
Typically, doctors utilize MRIs to gauge the size of tumors; however, some tumors are not visible on MRIs. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, explained that AI technology can address these limitations.
Brisbane noted that the application of AI in cancer treatment could enhance personalized care, leading to more effective treatment options tailored to individual patient needs, thereby improving outcomes against the disease.
Avenda Health’s CEO Dr. Shyam Natarajan expressed that it is encouraging for physicians to see such innovations validated through research and acknowledged by organizations such as the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, roughly 1 in 8 men are expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, with about 1 in 44 men succumbing to the disease. It is projected that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the United States this year, with 35,250 estimated deaths attributed to the illness.