An AI healthcare company claims its software can identify the extent of prostate cancer more precisely than medical professionals.
Avenda Health conducted a study with ten doctors who evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases each. The company’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7%, whereas the physicians’ manual assessments varied between 67.2% and 75.9%.
This research, carried out in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, further revealed that using AI for cancer contouring resulted in predictions of cancer size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to assessments made without AI.
Shyam Natarajan, the assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and the study’s senior author, noted that the integration of AI assistance led to improved accuracy and consistency among the doctors, meaning they were more likely to reach the same conclusions when utilizing AI tools.
Traditionally, doctors rely on MRI scans to assess tumor size; however, some tumors are not visible in MRI scans. Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, stated that AI effectively addresses the limitations of MRI technology.
Brisbane emphasized that the application of AI in cancer treatment could result in more effective and personalized patient care, with treatments better suited to individual needs and more successful outcomes against the disease. He remarked that AI has the potential to exceed human capabilities.
Dr. Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health, expressed confidence in the validation of this innovation through research and its recognition by the American Medical Association.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives, and 1 in 44 will succumb to the disease. It is projected that in 2023, there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases in the U.S., with 35,250 resulting in death.