Dr. Shyam Natarajan on Unfold AI and prostate cancer

In this video, Shyam Natarajan, PhD, discusses the practical implementation of AI-generated cancer maps in clinical settings. He is an author of the recent BJUI Compass study, “Extracapsular extension risk assessment using an artificial intelligence prostate cancer mapping algorithm.” Natarajan is the founder and CEO of Avenda Health.

Transcription:

How do you envision the practical implementation of AI-generated cancer maps in clinical settings? What are the potential challenges and barriers to widespread adoption?

We see use of AI-generated cancer maps in the decision-making process of understanding who is the right patient for what therapy, as well as planning out the specific therapy, whether it's a whole-gland or a targeted therapy. The findings from the study that was just published could be indicative that Unfold AI may improve or help sort of that sub stratification of who could potentially get a nerve-sparing surgery vs a non-nerve-sparing surgery, or who is a better candidate for targeted therapy here. One of the key challenges or barriers that we're overcoming is that in order to run or develop this AI-generated map, the patient must receive a targeted prostate biopsy with an image-guided prostate fusion system. And while this technology is widespread, it's not universal. So we see this, especially with the issuance of new categories of codes for biopsy and fusion biopsy that are going to occur in the next couple of years, we're on the path to patients universally receiving the best-in-class diagnosis, and then we see AI adding on top of that to give patients a personalized decision-making platform and support paradigm.

This transcript was edited for clarity.