An artificial intelligence healthcare company has announced that its software can more precisely detect the extent of prostate cancer compared to medical professionals.
According to a study conducted by Avenda Health, involving ten doctors who evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases each, the company’s Unfold AI software demonstrated an accuracy of 84.7% in identifying cancer. In contrast, the accuracy of physicians working manually ranged from 67.2% to 75.9%.
This research, conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and published in the Journal of Urology, highlighted that AI-assisted cancer contouring resulted in predictions of cancer size that were 45 times more accurate and consistent than traditional methods.
Shyam Natarajan, assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and senior author of the study, noted that AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of doctors’ evaluations, leading to greater agreement among them.
Typically, doctors rely on MRIs to gauge tumor size; however, some tumors remain “MRI-invisible.” Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, emphasized that AI provides valuable support where MRI technology falls short.
Brisbane stated that integrating AI into cancer treatment could enhance personalized care for patients, resulting in more effective treatments tailored to individual needs. He believes AI can surpass human capabilities in this context.
Avenda Health CEO Dr. Shyam Natarajan expressed that the validation of such innovations through studies and their recognition by the American Medical Association (AMA) is empowering for physicians.
In the United States, approximately 1 in 8 men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. It is projected that there will be 299,010 new prostate cancer cases this year, with 35,250 fatalities resulting from the illness.