An artificial intelligence healthcare company claims its software can more accurately detect the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study involving ten physicians who evaluated 50 different prostate cancer cases. The results indicated that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved a detection accuracy of 84.7%, whereas the accuracy of the doctors ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
The research, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, also demonstrated that AI-assisted cancer contouring led to size predictions that were 45 times more accurate and consistent than those made without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the senior author of the study, stated that the use of AI made physicians not only more accurate but also more consistent in their assessments, resulting in greater agreement among them.
Typically, doctors rely on MRI scans to determine tumor size; however, some tumors are not visible on these scans, as noted by Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In such cases, AI provides additional support where MRIs may fall short.
Brisbane emphasized that the incorporation of AI in cancer treatment could facilitate more effective and personalized patient care, offering treatments that are better suited to individual needs and more likely to succeed against the disease. He remarked that AI has the potential to surpass human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed that it is empowering for medical professionals to see innovations like this validated through research and recognized 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 men will succumb to the disease. This year, an estimated 299,010 new prostate cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S., with 35,250 fatalities anticipated as a result.