Avenda Health, an AI healthcare company, claims that its software can identify the extent of prostate cancer more effectively than traditional methods used by doctors. A recent study highlighted the capabilities of Avenda’s Unfold AI software, which achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer. In contrast, the accuracy rates for doctors assessing 50 different prostate cancer cases ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The study, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, also revealed that AI-assisted cancer contouring allowed for predictions of tumor size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments made without AI.
According to Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA, the incorporation of AI assistance made doctors not only more accurate but also more consistent in their diagnoses. This means that there was greater agreement among doctors when utilizing AI tools.
Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, noted that while doctors typically rely on MRIs for tumor size assessments, some tumors remain “MRI-invisible.” In these cases, AI provides valuable insights that MRI technology cannot.
Dr. Brisbane emphasized that the integration of AI into cancer treatment could result in more effective and personalized care for patients, enabling treatments that cater to individual needs and improving overall success rates in combating the disease.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Natarajan, expressed that it is empowering for physicians to see such innovations receive validation through research and acknowledgment by the American Medical Association (AMA).
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the United States will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, with 1 in 44 men succumbing to the disease. It is projected that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S. this year, leading to an estimated 35,250 deaths from the disease.