Artificial intelligence, urology and your health: Please fill out the survey by Sept. 1 and help research on AI

By Howard Wolinsky

The future is bright for AI (artificial intelligence.

It will be playing a role in so many diseases, such as prostate cancer, and in so many ways, including pathology and radiology.

It’s already being used to decide whether men should go on androgen-deprivation therapy. An AI product is coming this year to help decide who should go on active surveillance.

It’s everywhere, anywhere, all at once.

(Peter Evancho, JD, medical student)

But some worry about what AI will mean to care. Can we trust AI? Will it take a lead or following role in interaction with physicians?

What about those “AI hallucinations”? I ran into one where I asked AI to summarize an interview—and it added a fictional reference. (I contacted the researcher and he confirmed he never wrote any such thing. Scary.)

Peter Evancho, an attorney and second-year medical student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, is conducting a policy analysis among experts and patients like us and is asking for our help.

Can you take about a few minutes and answer Evancho’s survey and share your thoughts about AI and urology care?

Here’s what Evancho has to say about himself and his survey:

“My name is Peter Evancho, and I am a second-year medical student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. In conjunction with the Department of Surgery and the Division of Urology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and Principal Investigator Minhaj Siddiqui, MD, I am conducting a short survey to examine the the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into urologic practice and understand both its promising advancements and the substantial ethical, legal, and regulatory challenges it poses. Your insights are crucial, and the survey is designed to be completely anonymous. Participationn is voluntary.”

Survey Link: https://rs.igs.umaryland.edu/surveys/?s=3R37KJMPERYEWMH9

The survey will remain open until September 1, 2024. The University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Institutional Review Board has approved this study under HP-00109759

Webinar on 2nd opinions. My opinion? I’m going, why not join us?

By Howard Wolinsky

Active Surveillance Patients International (ASPI) is holding a patient webinar at noon EST on Saturday, July 27, called “In our opinion, get a second opinion.” Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUkdOqpqT0iGNHcOP4sfLoiIsdIp-nLwbUS

Four patients will share their experiences with prostate cancer and how second opinions—or their absence—had a huge impact on a patient’s fate.

I will be on the panel along with my Chicago area friends, retired attorney Jim Schraidt, a former ASPI board member and current ZERO board member, who like me was diagnosed in 2010 but went on a different path that transformed him into patient advocate supreme for Active Surveillance, and newly diagnosed PCa patients Charles Brown III and Keith Day, whose second opinions saved them from the robo knife and the ray gun.

Micro-ultrasound webinar

By Howard Wolinsky

Micro-ultrasound is an amazing tech that is catching on slowly and may be giving MRI a run for the diagnostic market.

Dr. Ravi Kumar, a urological oncologist on staff at Humber River Hospital in Toronto, is making a presentation on the status of micro-ultrasound, “ExactVu Micro-Ultrasound: A new frontier in urological imaging” at 7-9 PM EST Wednesday, July 24. Register here: https://conta.cc/4co75TY Prostate Cancer Support Toronto is sponsoring the meeting.

(Dr. Ravi Kumar)

Humber River Hospital is North America’s first fully digital hospital, using the latest tech to enhance all aspects of quality patient care delivery, improving efficiency, accuracy, reliability and safety.

ZERO needs your help in Congress funding CDC on PCa issues

By Howard Wolinsky

The House Appropriations Committee has made significant cuts for Fiscal Year 2025 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly a quarter of its funding. 
 
Among other things, the CDC supports a number of prostate cancer activities, including outreach into high-risk communities and support for state and local prostate cancer programs, all of which are at-risk for large cuts.

I have some skin in this game. I helped win a $1 million grant from CDC—the first of its kind—to study opinions about Gleason 6 (Grade Group 1) in African AMerican and Hispanic men.

Zero said: “Your elected officials need to hear from you - these programs are critical for improving prostate cancer outcomes and saving lives.

”The Senate is next to weigh in on funding for CDC. We can help protect prostate cancer funding by telling Senators that cuts would be devastating for our community.”

Please check in here: https://p2a.co/15HnJhg

Achieving HapPenis after prostate cancer

Prostatectomies are just part of the issue. Just aging impact yor “HapPenis.”

Check out this program from out friends at the Prostate Forum of Orange County:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85477749453#success

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