Avenda Health, an artificial intelligence healthcare company, claims its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer than traditional methods used by doctors.
In a study involving ten physicians who evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases each, Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved a detection accuracy rate of 84.7%. In contrast, the doctors examining the cases manually had accuracy rates ranging from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, the study also indicated that using AI for cancer contouring significantly improved predictions of tumor size, making them 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments made without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology and the study’s senior author at UCLA, explained that AI assistance not only improved the accuracy of doctors but also enhanced their agreement in diagnoses.
While physicians typically rely on MRI scans to gauge tumor sizes, some tumors are not visible through this imaging technique, according to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA. He noted that AI can provide insights when MRIs fall short.
Brisbane pointed out that employing AI in cancer treatment may lead to more effective and personalized patient care, tailoring treatments to better meet individual needs and increasing their efficacy against the disease.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed that it is encouraging for physicians to see this form of innovation validated through research and acknowledged by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 men will succumb to the illness. This year, it is estimated that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S., with 35,250 projected deaths resulting from the disease.