Avenda Health, an AI healthcare company, claims that its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer than doctors can. A study conducted by Avenda last month involved ten physicians who evaluated 50 different cases of prostate cancer. The results showed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the doctors’ manual assessments ranged between 67.2% and 75.9%.
This study, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, further revealed that AI-assisted cancer contouring predictions of tumor size were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments made without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and senior author of the study, noted that AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of the doctors’ evaluations, leading to a greater consensus among them.
Typically, doctors rely on MRIs to assess tumor sizes. However, Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, pointed out that some tumors are not visible on MRIs. He emphasized that AI proves beneficial in these cases where imaging fails.
Dr. Brisbane stated that utilizing AI in cancer treatment could enhance personalized care for patients, making treatments more tailored to individual needs and more effective in combating the disease. He also remarked that AI has the potential to surpass human capabilities.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed his enthusiasm for the validation of such innovations through studies and acknowledgment by the American Medical Association (AMA).
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and about 1 in 44 men will succumb to the disease. It is estimated that the US will witness 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer this year, with 35,250 deaths attributed to the illness.