AI detects prostate cancer as well as experienced radiologists

Editor's Note

A new artificial intelligence (AI) system developed by researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine improved the ability to diagnose prostate cancer in this study.

The system, called “FocalNet,” helps identify and predict the aggressiveness of the disease by evaluating MRI scans.

Results showed that FocalNet was 80.5% accurate in reading MRIs, and radiologists with at least 10 years of experience were 83.9% accurate.

It typically takes the reading of thousands of scans for radiologists to learn how to accurately determine whether a tumor is cancerous or benign and to accurately estimate the grade of the cancer, and many hospitals do not have the resources to implement the highly specialized training.

The findings suggest that an AI system could save time and potentially provide diagnostic guidance to less-experienced radiologists, the researchers say.