An artificial intelligence healthcare company claims its software can more accurately assess the extent of prostate cancer compared to human doctors.
Avenda Health recently published a study involving ten doctors who evaluated 50 prostate cancer cases each. The company’s Unfold AI software demonstrated an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the participating physicians had accuracy rates ranging from 67.2% to 75.9%.
Conducted in collaboration with UCLA Health and featured in the Journal of Urology, the study highlighted that AI-assisted cancer contouring predictions were 45 times more accurate and consistent than those made without AI assistance.
Shyam Natarajan, assistant adjunct professor of urology at UCLA and the study’s senior author, noted that the use of AI enhanced both the accuracy and consistency of the doctors’ diagnoses, fostering greater agreement among them.
Typically, 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, explained that some tumors are not visible on MRI scans, indicating that AI plays a crucial role where traditional imaging falls short. He emphasized that AI has the potential to deliver more effective and individualized cancer care tailored to patients’ specific needs.
Avenda Health CEO Dr. Shyam Natarajan expressed optimism about the validation of this technology through studies and its recognition by 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 in their lifetime, and one in 44 will succumb to the disease. This year, it is projected that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S., with an estimated 35,250 deaths attributed to the illness.