An AI healthcare company claims its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer compared to traditional methods used by doctors. Last month, Avenda Health published a study featuring ten doctors who evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases each. The findings revealed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7%, whereas the physicians’ manual detection varied between 67.2% and 75.9%.
The research, carried out in collaboration with UCLA Health and documented in the Journal of Urology, also indicated that AI significantly enhances the process of cancer contouring. Predictions regarding tumor size were found to be 45 times more accurate and consistent when assisted by AI compared to assessments made without it.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and a principal author of the study, noted that AI assistance improved both the accuracy and consistency of the doctors’ evaluations, leading to greater consensus among them.
Typically, doctors rely on MRIs to determine tumor size. However, some tumors remain “MRI-invisible,” as highlighted by Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He emphasized that AI fills significant gaps where MRIs do not succeed.
Dr. Brisbane remarked that incorporating AI into cancer treatment could result in more effective and personalized patient care, allowing for treatments that cater specifically to individual needs and increasing the chances of successful disease management. He asserted that AI has the potential to “go beyond human ability.”
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Natarajan, expressed that it is empowering for healthcare professionals to witness innovations in this field being validated through research and acknowledged by prestigious organizations like the AMA.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will face a prostate cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, with 1 in 44 men succumbing to the illness. It is projected that in the United States, there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer this year, leading to 35,250 fatalities.