Avenda Health said the University of Michigan Health Weiser Center for Prostate Cancer has become the first healthcare institution in the Midwest to implement its AI-based prostate cancer mapping technology, extending advanced imaging support into one of the country’s leading urologic oncology programs. The rollout is intended to strengthen treatment planning and clinical decision-making for prostate cancer patients, particularly as cases of advanced disease continue to increase across Michigan. The company stated that one in eight men are expected to receive a prostate cancer diagnosis during their lifetime, while conventional imaging and biopsy methods can still fail to detect or fully define clinically significant disease. The deployment of Unfold AI introduces patient-specific 3D cancer visualization capabilities designed to provide physicians with a more detailed understanding of tumor size, spread and location before treatment decisions are finalized.
The FDA-cleared multimodal platform combines imaging, pathology and other patient data to generate a personalized 3D disease map intended to reveal cancer that may not be fully visible through conventional MRI-based assessments. According to peer-reviewed studies cited by the company, the technology improved physician sensitivity in identifying tumor extent from 37% to 97% and predicted cancer spread into nearby anatomy with 92% accuracy, compared with 52% using MRI alone. “Up to 20% of clinically significant prostate cancer is invisible on standard prostate MRI, and Prostate MRI can significantly underestimate the size of the cancer” said Andrew M. Wood, M.D., urological surgeon at U-M Health, leading the use of Unfold AI at the institution. “Having access to Unfold AI adds a valuable tool to our evaluation and treatment of this disease, allowing for additional precision in tumor ablation procedures and a more personalized treatment paradigm tailored to each patient.”
Shyam Natarajan, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Avenda Health, said the collaboration with University of Michigan Health marked another step in expanding AI-guided prostate cancer care into major cancer centers nationwide. The company also noted that its platform became the first AI urology product to receive a Category III CPT code from the American Medical Association and a national Medicare payment rate for outpatient hospital settings. More recently, the technology was included in Medicare Physician Fee Schedules across the West Coast and Mountain West regions.
