An artificial intelligence healthcare company has announced that its software can more accurately detect the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by physicians.
Avenda Health conducted a study involving ten doctors who evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases each. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the physicians’ manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9% accuracy.
The research, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, revealed that using AI for cancer contouring resulted in size predictions that were 45 times more accurate and consistent than traditional methods.
Shyam Natarajan, assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, stated that AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of doctors’ assessments, leading to greater agreement among physicians when utilizing AI.
Typically, doctors rely on MRIs to determine tumor size, but Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, noted that some tumors are not detectable by MRIs. AI technology fills in the gaps where MRIs are ineffective.
Brisbane expressed optimism about the potential of AI in cancer treatment, suggesting that it could facilitate more effective and personalized care tailored to individual patient needs, ultimately improving treatment success rates. He highlighted that AI has the capability to exceed human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, emphasized the significance of having this innovation validated through research and acknowledged by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 will succumb to the disease. It is estimated that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S. this year, with 35,250 fatalities attributed to the condition.