An artificial intelligence healthcare company has announced that its software can more accurately identify the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study involving ten physicians, each evaluating 50 different prostate cancer cases. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the doctors’ manual assessments varied between 67.2% and 75.9%.
The study, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, highlighted that the use of AI in cancer contouring resulted in predictions of tumor size being 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to manual measurements without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor at UCLA and the senior author of the study, remarked that incorporating AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of the doctors’ evaluations, leading to a higher level of agreement among them.
Traditionally, doctors rely on MRIs to gauge tumor sizes; however, some tumors are not visible on MRI scans. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, stated that AI technology can provide insights where MRIs fall short.
Brisbane emphasized that utilizing AI in cancer treatment could significantly enhance patient care, allowing for treatments that are more personalized and effective in combating the disease. He noted that AI has the potential to surpass human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed how validating their innovation through studies recognized by the American Medical Association is empowering for physicians.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lives, and 1 in 44 will succumb to the illness. It is estimated that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the US this year, with 35,250 fatalities resulting from the disease.