Avenda Health, an AI healthcare company, claims that its software can more accurately identify the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by doctors.
The company recently published a study involving ten physicians who evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases each. The findings revealed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer. In contrast, the doctors, when assessing the cases manually, had accuracy rates ranging from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This study, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and featured in the Journal of Urology, also highlighted that AI-assisted cancer contouring resulted in predictions of tumor size being 45 times more precise and reliable than those made without AI assistance.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology at UCLA and the senior author of the study, stated that the integration of AI assistance led to heightened accuracy and consistency among doctors, indicating that they reached a consensus more frequently when using AI.
Traditional imaging techniques, such as MRIs, are commonly employed to assess tumor sizes; however, some tumors are not visible on MRIs. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA, emphasized that AI can address these limitations where MRIs fall short.
He further noted that utilizing AI in cancer treatment could result in more effective and personalized care for patients, enabling treatments tailored to their unique needs and improving outcomes in combating the illness.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed that witnessing such innovations being validated through studies and acknowledged by the American Medical Association is empowering for physicians.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the disease. This year, it is estimated that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases, with 35,250 expected fatalities.