An artificial intelligence healthcare company has announced that its software is capable of identifying the extent of prostate cancer more accurately than human doctors.
Avenda Health conducted a study last month involving ten physicians who evaluated 50 different cases of prostate cancer. The results showed that Avenda’s Unfold AI software achieved an accuracy rate of 84.7% in detecting cancer, while the doctors’ manual assessments ranged from 67.2% to 75.9% accuracy.
The collaborative study with UCLA Health was published in the Journal of Urology and highlighted that the use of AI technology in cancer contouring led to predictions of tumor size being 45 times more accurate and consistent compared to manual assessments alone.
Shyam Natarajan, an assistant adjunct professor of urology, surgery, and bioengineering at UCLA and senior author of the study, stated that AI assistance enhances both the accuracy and consistency of doctors’ evaluations, resulting in greater agreement among physicians when using AI tools.
Typically, doctors rely on MRIs to gauge tumor size, but some tumors can be “MRI-invisible,” according to Dr. Wayne Brisbane, an assistant professor of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. AI technology can provide insights where MRI imaging falls short.
Brisbane emphasized that the integration of AI in cancer treatment holds the potential for more effective and personalized patient care, offering treatments tailored to individual needs and improving the chances of successful disease management. He remarked that AI capabilities can surpass human limitations.
Avenda Health’s CEO, Dr. Shyam Natarajan, expressed that it is “empowering for physicians to see this kind of innovation validated through studies and recognized by the American Medical Association.”
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 44 will succumb to the disease. This year alone, an estimated 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer are expected in the United States, with about 35,250 fatalities predicted.