01-08-2019 | Gastrointestinal
MRI radiomics analysis for predicting preoperative synchronous distant metastasis in patients with rectal cancer
Published in: European Radiology | Issue 8/2019
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Objectives
To investigate the value of MRI radiomics based on T2-weighted (T2W) images in predicting preoperative synchronous distant metastasis (SDM) in patients with rectal cancer.
Methods
This retrospective study enrolled 177 patients with histopathology-confirmed rectal adenocarcinoma (123 patients in the training cohort and 54 in the validation cohort). A total of 385 radiomics features were extracted from pretreatment T2W images. Five steps, including univariate statistical tests and a random forest algorithm, were performed to select the best preforming features for predicting SDM. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to build the clinical and clinical-radiomics combined models in the training cohort. The predictive performance was validated by receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) analysis and clinical utility implementing a nomogram and decision curve analysis.
Results
Fifty-nine patients (33.3%) were confirmed to have SDM. Six radiomics features and four clinical characteristics were selected for predicting SDM. The clinical-radiomics combined model performed better than the clinical model in both the training and validation datasets. A threshold of 0.44 yielded an area under the ROC (AUC) value of 0.827 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.6963–0.9580), a sensitivity of 72.2%, a specificity of 94.4%, and an accuracy of 87.0% in the validation cohort for the combined model. A clinical-radiomics nomogram and decision curve analysis confirmed the clinical utility of the combined model.
Conclusions
Our proposed clinical-radiomics combined model could be utilized as a noninvasive biomarker for identifying patients at high risk of SDM, which could aid in tailoring treatment strategies.
Key Points
• T2WI-based radiomics analysis helps predict synchronous distant metastasis (SDM) of rectal cancer.
• The clinical-radiomics combined model could be utilized as a noninvasive biomarker for predicting SDM.
• Personalized treatment can be carried out with greater confidence based on the risk stratification for SDM in rectal cancer.