United States: The latest study results reveal that Artificial intelligence is showing better diagnostic results than doctors when it comes to the detection of common cancer in men.
More about the news
According to a study conducted by UCLA scientists, an AI tool could identify prostate cancer with at least 84 percent accuracy, compared to 67 percent accuracy when doctors attempted to detect it.
The AI tool used was by Avenda Health in California, a software recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It uses an AI algorithm to identify the likelihood of cancer by using the types of clinical data, as the News York Post reported.
In the study, the scientific team consisting of seven urologists and three radiologists examined 50 cases in which tumors were removed and were looking for traces of residual cancer.
After a few months, the AI software conducted the same process. It was found that the “negative margin rate,” a medical term for the absence of cancer cells in the removed tissue area, was 45 times more effective in detecting cancer.
What more are the experts stating?
According to Ali Kasraeian, M.D., a urologist at Kasraeian Urology in Jacksonville, Florida, who used the Unfold AI technology while doing his consultations along with his patients to manage their prostate cancer, said, “The AI takes the information that we currently have about a patient’s prostate cancer — like their pathology, imaging, and biopsy results — and creates a 3D cancer estimation map,” as the Fox News Digital reported.
“The results we get from Unfold AI tell us if a patient will be better suited for focal therapy or more radical therapy, such as radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy, ensuring we optimize their cancer cure, the personalization of their cancer care, and their quality of life goals,” he added.
Moreover, Joshua Trachenberg, PhD, who is a professor of neurobiology at UCLA and also a prostate cancer patient himself, noted that after doctors identified a slow pace progress of his prostate, they went through removing the gland surgically. However, he decided to go with other available options.
Trachenberg, who is 56 year old said, “I got in touch with a team at UCLA, where I also am a faculty member, that was exploring alternate treatments to total gland removal.”
According to him, the UCLA researchers were testing an approach, which use ultrasound to heat tissue and is “focally guided” by MRI to kill the cancerous tissue without damaging the rest of the gland.
“The 3D map created by Unfold AI enabled this team to identify precise margins, target the cancerous area and avoid any functional structures of the gland,” he added.
And, “It was truly able to visualize my cancer, and it gave me a much better understanding of my case,” as he noted.
Now, like Trachenberg, many men are now free from cancer, without going through rigrous prostatectomy.
As Trachenberg said, “So many men are afraid of treatment because of the risks associated with gland removal, and Unfold AI enables therapies that don’t put men through the meat grinder,” as the Fox News reported.