Artificial intelligence (AI) can transform urology practices not only by improving workflow but by enhancing patient care. AI can recognize diagnostic patterns that clinicians might miss and recommend treatments they might not have considered, according to a presentation by a panel of urologists at the Large Urology Group Practice Association (LUGPA) 2023 Annual Meeting. AI has the potential to decrease the need for invasive procedures and reduce exposure to treatment-related toxicities.
“It’s evident that ignoring the burgeoning potential of AI is no longer feasible, given its profound impact on enhancing clinical workflows, diagnostic accuracy, and overall patient care,” said panelist Giovanni Cacciamani, MD, an associate professor of urology research at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
He added, “AI not only helps in maintaining a smooth workflow but also ensures that performance standards are kept at an unparalleled high, ensuring that the quality of patient care doesn’t get compromised,” Dr Cacciamani said. “AI will not replace urologists or nephrologists, but those who use, adopt, and understand the potential of AI will replace those who don’t.”
The primary focus of the presentation was to showcase the practicality and applicability of AI technologies, detailing how they have revolutionized diagnostic processes, treatment planning, and patient care. “One significant transformation AI has brought about in 2023 is the optimization of workload management,” Dr Cacciamani said. “It enhances operational efficiency by automating mundane and repetitive tasks, allowing medical professionals to focus more on patient-centric activities.”
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AI can be particularly useful in analyzing large numbers of medical images. “AI facilitates the automated reading and interpretation of complex medical images, enhancing diagnostic accuracy and efficiency in a timely fashion,” Dr Cacciamani said.
A potentially important urologic application of AI is in oncology. The technology can facilitate cancer classification and grading and staging, development of treatment plans, and predicting treatment response. The potential usefulness was demonstrated in a recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine describing an AI-based predictive model capable of identifying patients with predominantly intermediate-risk prostate cancer likely to benefit from androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Daniel E. Spratt, MD, of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and colleagues developed and validated the model using digital pathology images of pretreatment prostate tissue and clinical data from 5727 patients enrolled in 5 phase 3 randomized trials in which patients received radiotherapy with or without ADT.
Another notable application is in the automated generation of clinical notes. AI can curate comprehensive and precise clinical notes by assimilating and processing information provided by patients and correlating it with relevant medical images and lab results. “This not only streamlines documentation, but also ensures that no critical information is overlooked,” Dr Cacciamani said.
AI also can improve patient education. “AI can personalize content creation for patients,” Dr Cacciamani said. “It can tailor information, ensuring it’s digestible and comprehensible for patients, bridging the divide between intricate medical terminologies and layman’s understanding. Such applications are instrumental in patient education, pre-and post-operative counseling, and facilitating improved patient adherence to medical advice and treatment plans.”
Urologic oncologist Neal Patel, MD, an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University, said the recent generative AI, large language models (LLMs), and robotic process automation as they apply to a urology practice may help combat burnout and improve patient outcomes. As AI is used to summarize and analyze patient histories and charts, clinicians can very quickly access the information they need for patients with longer and complicated urologic histories. “AI will become integral to the urologist’s practice in the next 5 years, and the sooner we embrace it and collaborate to make it better, the better off our patients will be,” Dr Patel said.
