Avenda Health has announced that its AI software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by doctors.
A study conducted by Avenda, in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, involved ten physicians evaluating 50 prostate cancer cases each. The results showed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while physicians’ manual assessments ranged between 67.2% and 75.9%.
The research also highlighted that AI-assisted cancer contouring led to predictions regarding tumor size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent than those made without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, a senior author of the study and assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA, stated that AI not only improved accuracy but also fostered greater agreement among doctors’ evaluations.
Traditionally, doctors rely on MRIs to gauge tumor sizes; however, Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, noted that some tumors remain “MRI-invisible.” In such cases, AI proves beneficial.
Brisbane emphasized that incorporating AI into cancer treatment could enhance personalized care for patients, allowing for treatments to be more specific to individual conditions, ultimately leading to improved outcomes in battling the disease. He remarked that AI has the potential to surpass human diagnostic capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed optimism regarding the validation of this innovative approach through research and recognition from the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one in eight men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and one in 44 will succumb to the illness. This year, it is projected that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the United States, with an estimated 35,250 fatalities attributed to the disease.