Predictive modeling of outcomes following definitive chemoradiotherapy for oropharyngeal cancer based on FDG-PET image characteristics

Artificial Intelligence-Driven Radiomics in Head and Neck Cancer: Current Status and Future Prospects

BACKGROUND

Radiomics is a rapidly growing field used to leverage medical radiological images by extracting quantitative features. These are supposed to characterize a patient's phenotype, and when combined with artificial intelligence techniques, to improve the accuracy of diagnostic models and clinical outcome prediction.

OBJECTIVES

This review aims at examining the application areas of artificial intelligence-based radiomics (AI-based radiomics) for the management of head and neck cancer (HNC). It further explores the workflow of AI-based radiomics for personalized and precision oncology in HNC. Finally, it examines the current challenges of AI-based radiomics in daily clinical oncology and offers possible solutions to these challenges.

METHODS

Comprehensive electronic databases (PubMed, Medline via Ovid, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library) were searched following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The quality of included studies and their risk of biases were evaluated using the Transparent Reporting of a Multivariable Prediction Model for Individual Prognosis or Diagnosis (TRIPOD)and Prediction Model Risk of Bias Assessment Tool (PROBAST).

RESULTS

Out of the 659 search hits retrieved, 45 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Our review revealed that the application of AI-based radiomics model as an ancillary tool for improved decision-making in HNC management includes radiomics-based cancer diagnosis and radiomics-based cancer prognosis. The radiomics-based cancer diagnosis includes tumor staging, tumor grading, and classification of malignant and benign tumors. Similarly, radiomics-based cancer prognosis includes prediction for treatment response, recurrence, metastasis, and survival. In addition, the challenges in the implementation of these models for clinical evaluations include data imbalance, feature engineering (extraction and selection), model generalizability, multi-modal fusion, and model interpretability.

CONCLUSION

Considering the highly subjective and interobserver variability that is peculiar to the interpretation of medical images by expert clinicians, AI-based radiomics seeks to offer potentially useful quantitative information, which is not visible to the human eye or unintentionally often remain ignored during clinical imaging practice. By enabling the extraction of this type of information, AI-based radiomics has the potential to revolutionize HNC oncology, providing a platform for more personalized, higher quality, and cost-effective care for HNC patients.

Artificial Intelligence in Head and Neck Surgery

This article explores artificial intelligence's (AI's) role in otolaryngology for head and neck cancer diagnosis and management. It highlights AI's potential in pattern recognition for early cancer detection, prognostication, and treatment planning, primarily through image analysis using clinical, endoscopic, and histopathologic images. Radiomics is also discussed at length, as well as the many ways that radiologic image analysis can be utilized, including for diagnosis, lymph node metastasis prediction, and evaluation of treatment response. The study highlights AI's promise and limitations, underlining the need for clinician-data scientist collaboration to enhance head and neck cancer care.

Methodological evaluation of original articles on radiomics and machine learning for outcome prediction based on positron emission tomography (PET)

AIM

Despite a vast number of articles on radiomics and machine learning in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, clinical applicability remains limited, partly owing to poor methodological quality. We therefore systematically investigated the methodology described in publications on radiomics and machine learning for PET-based outcome prediction.

METHODS

A systematic search for original articles was run on PubMed. All articles were rated according to 17 criteria proposed by the authors. Criteria with >2 rating categories were binarized into "adequate" or "inadequate". The association between the number of "adequate" criteria per article and the date of publication was examined.

RESULTS

One hundred articles were identified (published between 07/2017 and 09/2023). The median proportion of articles per criterion that were rated "adequate" was 65% (range: 23-98%). Nineteen articles (19%) mentioned neither a test cohort nor cross-validation to separate training from testing. The median number of criteria with an "adequate" rating per article was 12.5 out of 17 (range, 4-17), and this did not increase with later dates of publication (Spearman's rho, 0.094; p = 0.35). In 22 articles (22%), less than half of the items were rated "adequate". Only 8% of articles published the source code, and 10% made the dataset openly available.

CONCLUSION

Among the articles investigated, methodological weaknesses have been identified, and the degree of compliance with recommendations on methodological quality and reporting shows potential for improvement. Better adherence to established guidelines could increase the clinical significance of radiomics and machine learning for PET-based outcome prediction and finally lead to the widespread use in routine clinical practice.

Enhancing head and neck tumor management with artificial intelligence: Integration and perspectives

Head and neck tumors (HNTs) constitute a multifaceted ensemble of pathologies that primarily involve regions such as the oral cavity, pharynx, and nasal cavity. The intricate anatomical structure of these regions poses considerable challenges to efficacious treatment strategies. Despite the availability of myriad treatment modalities, the overall therapeutic efficacy for HNTs continues to remain subdued. In recent years, the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare practices has garnered noteworthy attention. AI modalities, inclusive of machine learning (ML), neural networks (NNs), and deep learning (DL), when amalgamated into the holistic management of HNTs, promise to augment the precision, safety, and efficacy of treatment regimens. The integration of AI within HNT management is intricately intertwined with domains such as medical imaging, bioinformatics, and medical robotics. This article intends to scrutinize the cutting-edge advancements and prospective applications of AI in the realm of HNTs, elucidating AI's indispensable role in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, prognostication, research, and inter-sectoral integration. The overarching objective is to stimulate scholarly discourse and invigorate insights among medical practitioners and researchers to propel further exploration, thereby facilitating superior therapeutic alternatives for patients.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of predictive and prognostic models for outcome prediction using positron emission tomography radiomics in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients

BACKGROUND

Positron emission tomography (PET) images of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients can assess the functional and biochemical processes at cellular levels. Therefore, PET radiomics-based prediction and prognostic models have the potentials to understand tumour heterogeneity and assist clinicians with diagnosis, prognosis and management of the disease. We conducted a systematic review of published modelling information to evaluate the usefulness of PET radiomics in the prediction and prognosis of HNSCC patients.

METHODS

We searched bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science) from 2010 to 2021 and considered 31 studies with pre-defined inclusion criteria. We followed the CHARMS checklist for data extraction and performed quality assessment using the PROBAST tool. We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the accuracy of the prediction and prognostic models using the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and average C-statistic, respectively.

RESULTS

Manual segmentation method followed by 40% of the maximum standardised uptake value (SUVmax ) thresholding is a commonly used approach. The area under the receiver operating curves of externally validated prediction models ranged between 0.60-0.87, 0.65-0.86 and 0.62-0.75 for overall survival, distant metastasis and recurrence, respectively. Most studies highlighted an overall high risk of bias (outcome definition, statistical methodologies and external validation of models) and high unclear concern in terms of applicability. The meta-analysis showed the estimated pooled DOR of 6.75 (95% CI: 4.45, 10.23) for prediction models and the C-statistic of 0.71 (95% CI: 0.67, 0.74) for prognostic models.

CONCLUSIONS

Both prediction and prognostic models using clinical variables and PET radiomics demonstrated reliable accuracy for detecting adverse outcomes in HNSCC, suggesting the prospect of PET radiomics in clinical settings for diagnosis, prognosis and management of HNSCC patients. Future studies of prediction and prognostic models should emphasise the quality of reporting, external model validation, generalisability to real clinical scenarios and enhanced reproducibility of results.

A Radiomics-Based Classifier for the Progression of Oropharyngeal Cancer Treated with Definitive Radiotherapy

In this study, we investigated whether radiomics features from pre-treatment positron emission tomography (PET) images could be used to predict disease progression in patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer treated with definitive proton or x-ray radiotherapy. Machine learning models were built using a dataset from Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (n = 72) and tested on a dataset from Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, Arizona (n = 22). A total of 71 clinical and radiomics features were considered. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to identify the top 2 clinical and top 20 radiomics features that were significantly different between progression and progression-free patients. Two dimensionality reduction methods were used to define two feature sets (manually filtered or machine-driven). A forward feature selection scheme was conducted on each feature set to build models of increased complexity (number of input features from 1 to 6) and evaluate model robustness and overfitting. The machine-driven features had superior performance and were less prone to overfitting compared to the manually filtered features. The four-variable Gaussian Naïve Bayes model using the 'Radiation Type' clinical feature and three machine-driven features achieved a training accuracy of 79% and testing accuracy of 77%. These results demonstrate that radiomics features can provide risk stratification beyond HPV-status to formulate individualized treatment and follow-up strategies.

Asphericity derived from [18F]FDG PET as a new prognostic parameter in cervical cancer patients

The objective of this study was to assess the prognostic value of asphericity (ASP) and standardized uptake ratio (SUR) in cervical cancer patients. Retrospective analysis was performed on a group of 508 (aged 55 ± 12 years) previously untreated cervical cancer patients. All patients underwent a pretreatment [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT study to assess the severity of the disease. The metabolic tumor volume (MTV) of the cervical cancer was delineated with an adaptive threshold method. For the resulting ROIs the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV_max) was measured. In addition, ASP and SUR were determined as previously described. Univariate Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis with respect to event free survival (EFS), overall survival (OS), freedom from distant metastasis (FFDM) and locoregional control (LRC) was performed. Additionally, a multivariate Cox regression including clinically relevant parameters was performed. In the survival analysis, MTV and ASP were shown to be prognostic factors for all investigated endpoints. Tumor metabolism quantified with the SUV_max was not prognostic for any of the endpoints (p > 0.2). The SUR did not reach statistical significance either (p = 0.1, 0.25, 0.066, 0.053, respectively). In the multivariate analysis, the ASP remained a significant factor for EFS and LRC, while MTV was a significant factor for FFDM, indicating their independent prognostic value for the respective endpoints. The alternative parameter ASP has the potential to improve the prognostic value of [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT for event-free survival and locoregional control in radically treated cervical cancer patients.

Artificial intelligence-driven radiomics study in cancer: the role of feature engineering and modeling

Modern medicine is reliant on various medical imaging technologies for non-invasively observing patients' anatomy. However, the interpretation of medical images can be highly subjective and dependent on the expertise of clinicians. Moreover, some potentially useful quantitative information in medical images, especially that which is not visible to the naked eye, is often ignored during clinical practice. In contrast, radiomics performs high-throughput feature extraction from medical images, which enables quantitative analysis of medical images and prediction of various clinical endpoints. Studies have reported that radiomics exhibits promising performance in diagnosis and predicting treatment responses and prognosis, demonstrating its potential to be a non-invasive auxiliary tool for personalized medicine. However, radiomics remains in a developmental phase as numerous technical challenges have yet to be solved, especially in feature engineering and statistical modeling. In this review, we introduce the current utility of radiomics by summarizing research on its application in the diagnosis, prognosis, and prediction of treatment responses in patients with cancer. We focus on machine learning approaches, for feature extraction and selection during feature engineering and for imbalanced datasets and multi-modality fusion during statistical modeling. Furthermore, we introduce the stability, reproducibility, and interpretability of features, and the generalizability and interpretability of models. Finally, we offer possible solutions to current challenges in radiomics research.

Application of artificial intelligence for overall survival risk stratification in oropharyngeal carcinoma: A validation of ProgTOOL

BACKGROUND

In recent years, there has been a surge in machine learning-based models for diagnosis and prognostication of outcomes in oncology. However, there are concerns relating to the model's reproducibility and generalizability to a separate patient cohort (i.e., external validation).

OBJECTIVES

This study primarily provides a validation study for a recently introduced and publicly available machine learning (ML) web-based prognostic tool (ProgTOOL) for overall survival risk stratification of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). Additionally, we reviewed the published studies that have utilized ML for outcome prognostication in OPSCC to examine how many of these models were externally validated, type of external validation, characteristics of the external dataset, and diagnostic performance characteristics on the internal validation (IV) and external validation (EV) datasets were extracted and compared.

METHODS

We used a total of 163 OPSCC patients obtained from the Helsinki University Hospital to externally validate the ProgTOOL for generalizability. In addition, PubMed, OvidMedline, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

RESULTS

The ProgTOOL produced a predictive performance of 86.5% balanced accuracy, Mathew's correlation coefficient of 0.78, Net Benefit (0.7) and Brier score (0.06) for overall survival stratification of OPSCC patients as either low-chance or high-chance. In addition, out of a total of 31 studies found to have used ML for the prognostication of outcomes in OPSCC, only seven (22.6%) reported a form of EV. Three studies (42.9%) each used either temporal EV or geographical EV while only one study (14.2%) used expert as a form of EV. Most of the studies reported a reduction in performance when externally validated.

CONCLUSION

The performance of the model in this validation study indicates that it may be generalized, therefore, bringing recommendations of the model for clinical evaluation closer to reality. However, the number of externally validated ML-based models for OPSCC is still relatively small. This significantly limits the transfer of these models for clinical evaluation and subsequently reduces the likelihood of the use of these models in daily clinical practice. As a gold standard, we recommend the use of geographical EV and validation studies to reveal biases and overfitting of these models. These recommendations are poised to facilitate the implementation of these models in clinical practice.

Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Radiomic Evaluation with Serial PET/CT: Exploring Features Predictive of Survival in Patients with Long-Term Follow-Up

Simple Summary

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a frequent head and neck cancer, especially in Asian countries. Our studies investigated the value of minable data derived from standard of care PET/CT imaging in patients with NPC. The here presented evaluation found that certain specific imaging features in this patient population can be potentially used to predict overall survival and progression free survival at different time points in those patients.

Abstract

Purpose: We aim determine the value of PET and CT radiomic parameters on survival with serial follow-up PET/CT in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) for which curative intent therapy is undertaken. Methods: Patients with NPC and available pre-treatment as well as follow up PET/CT were included from 2005 to 2006 and were followed to 2021. Baseline demographic, radiological and outcome data were collected. Univariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate features from baseline and follow-up time points, and landmark analyses were performed for each time point. Results: Sixty patients were enrolled, and two-hundred and seventy-eight (278) PET/CT were at baseline and during follow-up. Thirty-eight percent (38%) were female, and sixty-two patients were male. All patients underwent curative radiation or chemoradiation therapy. The median follow-up was 11.72 years (1.26–14.86). Five-year and ten-year overall survivals (OSs) were 80.0% and 66.2%, and progression-free survival (PFS) was 90.0% and 74.4%. Time-dependent modelling suggested that, among others, PET gray-level zone length matrix (GLZLM) gray-level non-uniformity (GLNU) (HR 2.74 95% CI 1.06, 7.05) was significantly associated with OS. Landmark analyses suggested that CT parameters were most predictive at 15 month, whereas PET parameters were most predictive at time points 3, 6, 9 and 15 month. Conclusions: This study with long-term follow up data on NPC suggests that mainly PET-derived radiomic features are predictive for OS but not PFS in a time-dependent evaluation. Furthermore, CT radiomic measures may predict OS and PFS best at initial and long-term follow-up time points and PET measures may be more predictive in the interval. These modalities are commonly used in NPC surveillance, and prospective validation should be considered.

Radiomics in Oncological PET Imaging: A Systematic Review—Part 1, Supradiaphragmatic Cancers

Radiomics is an upcoming field in nuclear oncology, both promising and technically challenging. To summarize the already undertaken work on supradiaphragmatic neoplasia and assess its quality, we performed a literature search in the PubMed database up to 18 February 2022. Inclusion criteria were: studies based on human data; at least one specified tumor type; supradiaphragmatic malignancy; performing radiomics on PET imaging. Exclusion criteria were: studies only based on phantom or animal data; technical articles without a clinically oriented question; fewer than 30 patients in the training cohort. A review database containing PMID, year of publication, cancer type, and quality criteria (number of patients, retrospective or prospective nature, independent validation cohort) was constructed. A total of 220 studies met the inclusion criteria. Among them, 119 (54.1%) studies included more than 100 patients, 21 studies (9.5%) were based on prospectively acquired data, and 91 (41.4%) used an independent validation set. Most studies focused on prognostic and treatment response objectives. Because the textural parameters and methods employed are very different from one article to another, it is complicated to aggregate and compare articles. New contributions and radiomics guidelines tend to help improving quality of the reported studies over the years.

Prognostic Value of Metabolic, Volumetric and Textural Parameters of Baseline [18F]FDG PET/CT in Early Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Simple Summary

The aim of this study was to evaluate PET/CT parameters to determine different prognostic groups in TNBC, in order to select patients with a high risk of relapse, for whom therapeutic escalation can be considered. We have demonstrated that the MTV, TLG and entropy of the primary breast lesion could be of interest to predict the prognostic outcome of TNBC patients.

Abstract

(1) Background: triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains a clinical and therapeutic challenge primarily affecting young women with poor prognosis. TNBC is currently treated as a single entity but presents a very diverse profile in terms of prognosis and response to treatment. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose ([¹⁸F]FDG) is gaining importance for the staging of breast cancers. TNBCs often show high [¹⁸F]FDG uptake and some studies have suggested a prognostic value for metabolic and volumetric parameters, but no study to our knowledge has examined textural features in TNBC. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between metabolic, volumetric and textural parameters measured at the initial [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT and disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with nonmetastatic TBNC. (2) Methods: all consecutive nonmetastatic TNBC patients who underwent a [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT examination upon diagnosis between 2012 and 2018 were retrospectively included. The metabolic and volumetric parameters (SUV_max, SUV_mean, SUV_peak, MTV, and TLG) and the textural features (entropy, homogeneity, SRE, LRE, LGZE, and HGZE) of the primary tumor were collected. (3) Results: 111 patients were enrolled (median follow-up: 53.6 months). In the univariate analysis, high TLG, MTV and entropy values of the primary tumor were associated with lower DFS (p = 0.008, p = 0.006 and p = 0.025, respectively) and lower OS (p = 0.002, p = 0.001 and p = 0.046, respectively). The discriminating thresholds for two-year DFS were calculated as 7.5 for MTV, 55.8 for TLG and 2.6 for entropy. The discriminating thresholds for two-year OS were calculated as 9.3 for MTV, 57.4 for TLG and 2.67 for entropy. In the multivariate analysis, lymph node involvement in PET/CT was associated with lower DFS (p = 0.036), and the high MTV of the primary tumor was correlated with lower OS (p = 0.014). (4) Conclusions: textural features associated with metabolic and volumetric parameters of baseline [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT have a prognostic value for identifying high-relapse-risk groups in early TNBC patients.

A positron emission tomography radiomic signature for distant metastases risk in oropharyngeal cancer patients treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy

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The wavelet_LHL_GLDZM_LILDE feature was found to be associated with progression-free survival.

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A binary radiomics risk score was strongly associated with distant metastases for patients with HPV p16-negtive disease.

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Improved risk stratification could identify high-risk patients as potential candidates for adjuvant immunotherapy.

Background and purpose

Disease recurrence and distant metastases (DM) are major concerns for oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients receiving definitive chemo-radiotherapy. Here, we investigated whether pre-treatment primary tumor positron emission tomography (PET) features could predict progression-free survival (PFS) or DM.

Methods and materials

Primary tumors were delineated on pre-treatment PET scans for patients treated between 2005 and 2018 using gradient-based segmentation. Radiomic image features were extracted, along with SUV metrics. Features with zero variance and strong correlation to tumor volume, stage, p16 status, age or smoking were excluded. A random forest model was used to identify features associated with PFS. Kaplan-Meier methods, Cox regression and logistic regression with receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and 5-fold cross-validated areas-under-the-curve (CV-AUCs) were used.

Results

A total of 114 patients were included. With median follow-up 40 months (range: 3–138 months), 14 patients had local recurrence, 21 had DM and 38 died. Two-year actuarial local control, distant control, PFS and overall survival was 89%, 84%, 70% and 84%, respectively. The wavelet_LHL_GLDZM_LILDE feature slightly improved PFS prediction compared to clinical features alone (CV-AUC 0.73 vs. 0.71). Age > 65 years (HR = 2.64 (95%CI: 1.36–5.2), p = 0.004) and p16-negative disease (HR = 3.38 (95%CI: 1.72–6.66), p < 0.001) were associated with poor PFS. A binary radiomic classifier strongly predicted DM with multivariable HR = 3.27 (95%CI: 1.15–9.31), p = 0.027, specifically for patients with p16-negative disease with 2-year DM-free survival 83% for low-risk vs. 38% for high-risk patients (p = 0.004).

Conclusions

A radiomics signature strongly associated with DM risk could provide a tool for improved risk stratification, potentially adding adjuvant immunotherapy for high-risk patients.

Exploratory ensemble interpretable model for predicting local failure in head and neck cancer: the additive benefit of CT and intra-treatment cone-beam computed tomography features

BACKGROUND

Local failure (LF) following chemoradiation (CRT) for head and neck cancer is associated with poor overall survival. If machine learning techniques could stratify patients at risk of treatment failure based on baseline and intra-treatment imaging, such a model could facilitate response-adapted approaches to escalate, de-escalate, or switch therapy.

METHODS

A 1:2 retrospective case control cohort of patients treated at a single institution with definitive radiotherapy for head and neck cancer who failed locally, in-field at a primary or nodal structure were included. Radiomic features were extracted from baseline CT and CBCT scans at fractions 1 and 21 (delta) of radiotherapy with PyRadiomics and were selected for by: reproducibility (intra-class correlation coefficients ≥0.95), redundancy [maximum relevance and minimum redundancy (mRMR)], and informativeness [recursive feature elimination (RFE)]. Separate models predicting LF of primaries or nodes were created using the explainable boosting machine (EBM) classifier with 5-fold cross-validation for (I) clinical only, (II) radiomic only (CT1 and delta features), and (III) fused models (clinical + radiomic). Twenty-five iterations were performed, and predicted scores were averaged with a parallel ensemble design. Receiver operating characteristic curves were compared between models with paired-samples t-tests.

RESULTS

The fused ensemble model for primaries (using clinical, CT1, and delta features) achieved an AUC of 0.871 with a sensitivity of 78.3% and specificity of 90.9% at the maximum Youden J statistic. The fused ensemble model trended towards improvement when compared to the clinical only ensemble model (AUC =0.788, P=0.134) but reached significance when compared to the radiomic ensemble model (AUC =0.770, P=0.017). The fused ensemble model for nodes achieved an AUC of 0.910 with a sensitivity of 100.0% and specificity of 68.0%, which also trended towards improvement when compared to the clinical model (AUC =0.865, P=0.080).

CONCLUSIONS

The fused ensemble EBM model achieved high discriminatory ability at predicting LF for head and neck cancer in independent primary and nodal structures. Although an additive benefit of delta radiomics over clinical factors could not be proven, the results trended towards improvement with the fused ensemble model, which are promising and worthy of prospective investigation in a larger cohort.

Clinical Application of Artificial Intelligence in PET Imaging of Head and Neck Cancer

Applications of "artificial intelligence" (AI) have been exponentially expanding in health care. Readily accessible archives of enormous digital data in medical imaging have made radiology a leader in exploring and taking advantage of this technology. AI-assisted radiology has paved the way toward another level of precision in medicine. In this article, the authors aim to review current AI applications in PET imaging of head and neck cancers, beginning with radiomics and followed by deep learning in each section.

Current Omics Trends in Personalised Head and Neck Cancer Chemoradiotherapy

Chemoradiotherapy remains the most common management of locally advanced head and neck cancer. While both treatment components have greatly developed over the years, the quality of life and long-term survival of patients undergoing treatment for head and neck malignancies are still poor. Research in head and neck oncology is equally focused on the improvement of tumour response to treatment and on the limitation of normal tissue toxicity. In this regard, personalised therapy through a multi-omics approach targeting patient management from diagnosis to treatment shows promising results. The aim of this paper is to discuss the latest results regarding the personalised approach to chemoradiotherapy of head and neck cancer by gathering the findings of the newest omics, involving radiotherapy (dosiomics), chemotherapy (pharmacomics), and medical imaging for treatment monitoring (radiomics). The incorporation of these omics into head and neck cancer management offers multiple viewpoints to treatment that represent the foundation of personalised therapy.

Prediction of the local treatment outcome in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma using deep learning analysis of pretreatment FDG-PET images

Background

This study aimed to assess the utility of deep learning analysis using pretreatment FDG-PET images to predict local treatment outcome in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) patients.

Methods

One hundred fifty-four OPSCC patients who received pretreatment FDG-PET were included and divided into training (n = 102) and test (n = 52) sets. The diagnosis of local failure and local progression-free survival (PFS) rates were obtained from patient medical records. In deep learning analyses, axial and coronal images were assessed by three different architectures (AlexNet, GoogLeNET, and ResNet). In the training set, FDG-PET images were analyzed after the data augmentation process for the diagnostic model creation. A multivariate clinical model was also created using a binomial logistic regression model from a patient’s clinical characteristics. The test data set was subsequently analyzed for confirmation of diagnostic accuracy. Assessment of local PFS rates was also performed.

Results

Training sessions were successfully performed with an accuracy of 74–89%. ROC curve analyses revealed an AUC of 0.61–0.85 by the deep learning model in the test set, whereas it was 0.62 by T-stage, 0.59 by clinical stage, and 0.74 by a multivariate clinical model. The highest AUC (0.85) was obtained with deep learning analysis of ResNet architecture. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed deep learning-based classification by a multivariate clinical model (P < .05), and ResNet (P < .001) was a significant predictor of the treatment outcome. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, the deep learning-based classification divided the patient’s local PFS rate better than the T-stage, clinical stage, and a multivariate clinical model.

Conclusions

Deep learning-based diagnostic model with FDG-PET images indicated its possibility to predict local treatment outcomes in OPSCCs.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-08599-6.

Intrinsic radiomic expression patterns after 20 Gy demonstrate early metabolic response of oropharyngeal cancers

PURPOSE

This study investigated the prognostic potential of intra-treatment PET radiomics data in patients undergoing definitive (chemo) radiation therapy for oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) on a prospective clinical trial. We hypothesized that the radiomic expression of OPC tumors after 20 Gy is associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sixty-four patients undergoing definitive (chemo)radiation for OPC were prospectively enrolled on an IRB-approved study. Investigational ¹⁸ F-FDG-PET/CT images were acquired prior to treatment and 2 weeks (20 Gy) into a seven-week course of therapy. Fifty-five quantitative radiomic features were extracted from the primary tumor as potential biomarkers of early metabolic response. An unsupervised data clustering algorithm was used to partition patients into clusters based only on their radiomic expression. Clustering results were naïvely compared to residual disease and/or subsequent recurrence and used to derive Kaplan-Meier estimators of RFS. To test whether radiomic expression provides prognostic value beyond conventional clinical features associated with head and neck cancer, multivariable Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to adjust radiomic clusters for T and N stage, HPV status, and change in tumor volume.

RESULTS

While pre-treatment radiomics were not prognostic, intra-treatment radiomic expression was intrinsically associated with both residual/recurrent disease (P = 0.0256, χ 2 test) and RFS (HR = 7.53, 95% CI = 2.54-22.3; P = 0.0201). On univariate Cox analysis, radiomic cluster was associated with RFS (unadjusted HR = 2.70; 95% CI = 1.26-5.76; P = 0.0104) and maintained significance after adjustment for T, N staging, HPV status, and change in tumor volume after 20 Gy (adjusted HR = 2.69; 95% CI = 1.03-7.04; P = 0.0442). The particular radiomic characteristics associated with outcomes suggest that metabolic spatial heterogeneity after 20 Gy portends complete and durable therapeutic response. This finding is independent of baseline metabolic imaging characteristics and clinical features of head and neck cancer, thus providing prognostic advantages over existing approaches.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data illustrate the prognostic value of intra-treatment metabolic image interrogation, which may potentially guide adaptive therapy strategies for OPC patients and serve as a blueprint for other disease sites. The quality of our study was strengthened by its prospective image acquisition protocol, homogenous patient cohort, relatively long patient follow-up times, and unsupervised clustering formalism that is less prone to hyper-parameter tuning and over-fitting compared to supervised learning.

Reproducibility of radiomic features using network analysis and its application in Wasserstein k-means clustering

Purpose: The goal of this study is to develop innovative methods for identifying radiomic features that are reproducible over varying image acquisition settings. Approach: We propose a regularized partial correlation network to identify reliable and reproducible radiomic features. This approach was tested on two radiomic feature sets generated using two different reconstruction methods on computed tomography (CT) scans from a cohort of 47 lung cancer patients. The largest common network component between the two networks was tested on phantom data consisting of five cancer samples. To further investigate whether radiomic features found can identify phenotypes, we propose a k -means clustering algorithm coupled with the optimal mass transport theory. This approach following the regularized partial correlation network analysis was tested on CT scans from 77 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients in the Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) and validated using an independent dataset. Results: A set of common radiomic features was found in relatively large network components between the resultant two partial correlation networks resulting from a cohort of lung cancer patients. The reliability and reproducibility of those radiomic features were further validated on phantom data using the Wasserstein distance. Further analysis using the network-based Wasserstein k -means algorithm on the TCIA HNSCC data showed that the resulting clusters separate tumor subsites as well as HPV status, and this was validated on an independent dataset. Conclusion: We showed that a network-based analysis enables identifying reproducible radiomic features and use of the selected set of features can enhance clustering results.

A Systematic Review of PET Textural Analysis and Radiomics in Cancer

Background: Although many works have supported the utility of PET radiomics, several authors have raised concerns over the robustness and replicability of the results. This study aimed to perform a systematic review on the topic of PET radiomics and the used methodologies. Methods: PubMed was searched up to 15 October 2020. Original research articles based on human data specifying at least one tumor type and PET image were included, excluding those that apply only first-order statistics and those including fewer than 20 patients. Each publication, cancer type, objective and several methodological parameters (number of patients and features, validation approach, among other things) were extracted. Results: A total of 290 studies were included. Lung (28%) and head and neck (24%) were the most studied cancers. The most common objective was prognosis/treatment response (46%), followed by diagnosis/staging (21%), tumor characterization (18%) and technical evaluations (15%). The average number of patients included was 114 (median = 71; range 20–1419), and the average number of high-order features calculated per study was 31 (median = 26, range 1–286). Conclusions: PET radiomics is a promising field, but the number of patients in most publications is insufficient, and very few papers perform in-depth validations. The role of standardization initiatives will be crucial in the upcoming years.

Application of radiomics and machine learning in head and neck cancers

With the continuous development of medical image informatics technology, more and more high-throughput quantitative data could be extracted from digital medical images, which has resulted in a new kind of omics-Radiomics. In recent years, in addition to genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, radiomic has attracted the interest of more and more researchers. Compared to other omics, radiomics can be perfectly integrated with clinical data, even with the pathology and molecular biomarker, so that the study can be closer to the clinical reality and more revealing of the tumor development. Mass data will also be generated in this process. Machine learning, due to its own characteristics, has a unique advantage in processing massive radiomic data. By analyzing mass amounts of data with strong clinical relevance, people can construct models that more accurately reflect tumor development and progression, thereby providing the possibility of personalized and sequential treatment of patients. As one of the cancer types whose treatment and diagnosis rely on imaging examination, radiomics has a very broad application prospect in head and neck cancers (HNC). Until now, there have been some notable results in HNC. In this review, we will introduce the concepts and workflow of radiomics and machine learning and their current applications in head and neck cancers, as well as the directions and applications of artificial intelligence in the treatment and diagnosis of HNC.

Prediction of post-radiotherapy locoregional progression in HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma using machine-learning analysis of baseline PET/CT radiomics

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Radiomics quantitatively captures visually inappreciable imaging features.

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PET/CT radiomics provides wholistic metabolic and structural tumor characterization.

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Machine-learning algorithms can generate radiomics-based biomarkers for OPSCC.

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PET/CT radiomics can predict post-radiotherapy locoregional progression in HPV-associated OPSCC.

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Such biomarkers may improve patient selection for treatment de-intensification trials.

Locoregional failure remains a therapeutic challenge in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). We aimed to devise novel objective imaging biomarkers for prediction of locoregional progression in HPV-associated OPSCC. Following manual lesion delineation, 1037 PET and 1037 CT radiomic features were extracted from each primary tumor and metastatic cervical lymph node on baseline PET/CT scans. Applying random forest machine-learning algorithms, we generated radiomic models for censoring-aware locoregional progression prognostication (evaluated by Harrell's C-index) and risk stratification (evaluated in Kaplan-Meier analysis). A total of 190 patients were included; an optimized model yielded a median (interquartile range) C-index of 0.76 (0.66-0.81; p = 0.01) in prognostication of locoregional progression, using combined PET/CT radiomic features from primary tumors. Radiomics-based risk stratification reliably identified patients at risk for locoregional progression within 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year follow-up intervals, with log-rank p-values of p = 0.003, p = 0.001, p = 0.02, p = 0.006 in Kaplan-Meier analysis, respectively. Our results suggest PET/CT radiomic biomarkers can predict post-radiotherapy locoregional progression in HPV-associated OPSCC. Pending validation in large, independent cohorts, such objective biomarkers may improve patient selection for treatment de-intensification trials in this prognostically favorable OPSCC entity, and eventually facilitate personalized therapy.

Prognostic value of baseline [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography parameters MTV, TLG and asphericity in an international multicenter cohort of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

Purpose

[¹⁸F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) parameters have shown prognostic value in nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC), mostly in monocenter studies. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic impact of standard and novel PET parameters in a multicenter cohort of patients.

Methods

The established PET parameters metabolic tumor volume (MTV), total lesion glycolysis (TLG) and maximal standardized uptake value (SUV_max) as well as the novel parameter tumor asphericity (ASP) were evaluated in a retrospective multicenter cohort of 114 NPC patients with FDG-PET staging, treated with (chemo)radiation at 8 international institutions. Uni- and multivariable Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis with respect to overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS), distant metastases-free survival (FFDM), and locoregional control (LRC) was performed for clinical and PET parameters.

Results

When analyzing metric PET parameters, ASP showed a significant association with EFS (p = 0.035) and a trend for OS (p = 0.058). MTV was significantly associated with EFS (p = 0.026), OS (p = 0.008) and LRC (p = 0.012) and TLG with LRC (p = 0.019). TLG and MTV showed a very high correlation (Spearman’s rho = 0.95), therefore TLG was subesequently not further analysed. Optimal cutoff values for defining high and low risk groups were determined by maximization of the p-value in univariate Cox regression considering all possible cutoff values. Generation of stable cutoff values was feasible for MTV (p<0.001), ASP (p = 0.023) and combination of both (MTV+ASP = occurrence of one or both risk factors, p<0.001) for OS and for MTV regarding the endpoints OS (p<0.001) and LRC (p<0.001). In multivariable Cox (age >55 years + one binarized PET parameter), MTV >11.1ml (hazard ratio (HR): 3.57, p<0.001) and ASP > 14.4% (HR: 3.2, p = 0.031) remained prognostic for OS. MTV additionally remained prognostic for LRC (HR: 4.86 p<0.001) and EFS (HR: 2.51 p = 0.004). Bootstrapping analyses showed that a combination of high MTV and ASP improved prognostic value for OS compared to each single variable significantly (p = 0.005 and p = 0.04, respectively). When using the cohort from China (n = 57 patients) for establishment of prognostic parameters and all other patients for validation (n = 57 patients), MTV could be successfully validated as prognostic parameter regarding OS, EFS and LRC (all p-values <0.05 for both cohorts).

Conclusions

In this analysis, PET parameters were associated with outcome of NPC patients. MTV showed a robust association with OS, EFS and LRC. Our data suggest that combination of MTV and ASP may potentially further improve the risk stratification of NPC patients.

Potential Added Value of PET/CT Radiomics for Survival Prognostication beyond AJCC 8th Edition Staging in Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Accurate risk-stratification can facilitate precision therapy in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). We explored the potential added value of baseline positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) radiomic features for prognostication and risk stratification of OPSCC beyond the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 8th edition staging scheme. Using institutional and publicly available datasets, we included OPSCC patients with known human papillomavirus (HPV) status, without baseline distant metastasis and treated with curative intent. We extracted 1037 PET and 1037 CT radiomic features quantifying lesion shape, imaging intensity, and texture patterns from primary tumors and metastatic cervical lymph nodes. Utilizing random forest algorithms, we devised novel machine-learning models for OPSCC progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) using “radiomics” features, “AJCC” variables, and the “combined” set as input. We designed both single- (PET or CT) and combined-modality (PET/CT) models. Harrell’s C-index quantified survival model performance; risk stratification was evaluated in Kaplan–Meier analysis. A total of 311 patients were included. In HPV-associated OPSCC, the best “radiomics” model achieved an average C-index ± standard deviation of 0.62 ± 0.05 (p = 0.02) for PFS prediction, compared to 0.54 ± 0.06 (p = 0.32) utilizing “AJCC” variables. Radiomics-based risk-stratification of HPV-associated OPSCC was significant for PFS and OS. Similar trends were observed in HPV-negative OPSCC. In conclusion, radiomics imaging features extracted from pre-treatment PET/CT may provide complimentary information to the current AJCC staging scheme for survival prognostication and risk-stratification of HPV-associated OPSCC.

Applications of radiomics in precision diagnosis, prognostication and treatment planning of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas

Recent advancements in computational power, machine learning, and artificial intelligence technology have enabled automated evaluation of medical images to generate quantitative diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Such objective biomarkers are readily available and have the potential to improve personalized treatment, precision medicine, and patient selection for clinical trials. In this article, we explore the merits of the most recent addition to the “-omics” concept for the broader field of head and neck cancer – “Radiomics”. This review discusses radiomics studies focused on (molecular) characterization, classification, prognostication and treatment guidance for head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). We review the underlying hypothesis, general concept and typical workflow of radiomic analysis, and elaborate on current and future challenges to be addressed before routine clinical application.

A novel kernel Wasserstein distance on Gaussian measures: An application of identifying dental artifacts in head and neck computed tomography

The Wasserstein distance is a powerful metric based on the theory of optimal mass transport. It gives a natural measure of the distance between two distributions with a wide range of applications. In contrast to a number of the common divergences on distributions such as Kullback-Leibler or Jensen-Shannon, it is (weakly) continuous, and thus ideal for analyzing corrupted and noisy data. Until recently, however, no kernel methods for dealing with nonlinear data have been proposed via the Wasserstein distance. In this work, we develop a novel method to compute the L2-Wasserstein distance in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS) called kernel L2-Wasserstein distance, which is implemented using the kernel trick. The latter is a general method in machine learning employed to handle data in a nonlinear manner. We evaluate the proposed approach in identifying computed tomography (CT) slices with dental artifacts in head and neck cancer, performing unsupervised hierarchical clustering on the resulting Wasserstein distance matrix that is computed on imaging texture features extracted from each CT slice. We further compare the performance of kernel Wasserstein distance with alternatives including kernel Kullback-Leibler divergence we previously developed. Our experiments show that the kernel approach outperforms classical non-kernel approaches in identifying CT slices with artifacts.

A critical appraisal of the clinical applicability and risk of bias of the predictive models for mortality and recurrence in patients with oropharyngeal cancer: Systematic review

The use of predictive models is becoming widespread. However, these models should be developed appropriately (CHecklist for critical Appraisal and data extraction for systematic Reviews of prediction Modeling Studies [CHARMS] and Prediction model Risk Of Bias ASsessment Tool [PROBAST] statements). Concerning mortality/recurrence in oropharyngeal cancer, we are not aware of any systematic reviews of the predictive models. We carried out a systematic review of the MEDLINE/EMBASE databases of those predictive models. In these models, we analyzed the 11 domains of the CHARMS statement and the risk of bias and applicability, using the PROBAST tool. Six papers were finally included in the systematic review and all of them presented high risk of bias and several limitations in the statistical analysis. The applicability was satisfactory in five out of six studies. None of the models could be considered ready for use in clinical practice.

Association of metabolic and genetic heterogeneity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with prognostic implications: integration of FDG PET and genomic analysis

Purpose

The linkage between the genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity of the tumor has not been thoroughly evaluated. Herein, we investigated how the genetic and metabolic heterogeneity features of the tumor are associated with each other in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC). We further assessed the prognostic significance of those features.

Methods

The mutant-allele tumor heterogeneity (MATH) score (n = 508), a genetic heterogeneity feature, and tumor glycolysis feature (GlycoS) (n = 503) were obtained from the HNSC dataset in the cancer genome atlas (TCGA). We identified matching patients (n = 33) who underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) from the cancer imaging archive (TCIA) and obtained the following information from the primary tumor: metabolic, metabolic-volumetric, and metabolic heterogeneity features. The association between the genetic and metabolic features and their prognostic values were assessed.

Results

Tumor metabolic heterogeneity and metabolic-volumetric features showed a mild degree of association with MATH (n = 25, ρ = 0.4~0.5, P < 0.05 for all features). The patients with higher FDG PET features and MATH died sooner. Combination of MATH and tumor metabolic heterogeneity features showed a better stratification of prognosis than MATH. Also, higher MATH and GlycoS were associated with significantly worse overall survival (n = 499, P = 0.002 and 0.0001 for MATH and GlycoS, respectively). Furthermore, both MATH and GlycoS independently predicted overall survival after adjusting for clinicopathologic features and the other (P = 0.015 and 0.006, respectively).

Conclusion

Both tumor metabolic heterogeneity and metabolic-volumetric features assessed by FDG PET showed a mild degree of association with genetic heterogeneity in HNSC. Both metabolic and genetic heterogeneity features were predictive of survival and there was an additive prognostic value when the metabolic and genetic heterogeneity features were combined. Also, MATH and GlycoS were independent prognostic factors in HNSC; they can be used for precise prognostication once validated.

Radiomics features of the primary tumor fail to improve prediction of overall survival in large cohorts of CT- and PET-imaged head and neck cancer patients

Radiomics studies require many patients in order to power them, thus patients are often combined from different institutions and using different imaging protocols. Various studies have shown that imaging protocols affect radiomics feature values. We examined whether using data from cohorts with controlled imaging protocols improved patient outcome models. We retrospectively reviewed 726 CT and 686 PET images from head and neck cancer patients, who were divided into training or independent testing cohorts. For each patient, radiomics features with different preprocessing were calculated and two clinical variables-HPV status and tumor volume-were also included. A Cox proportional hazards model was built on the training data by using bootstrapped Lasso regression to predict overall survival. The effect of controlled imaging protocols on model performance was evaluated by subsetting the original training and independent testing cohorts to include only patients whose images were obtained using the same imaging protocol and vendor. Tumor volume, HPV status, and two radiomics covariates were selected for the CT model, resulting in an AUC of 0.72. However, volume alone produced a higher AUC, whereas adding radiomics features reduced the AUC. HPV status and one radiomics feature were selected as covariates for the PET model, resulting in an AUC of 0.59, but neither covariate was significantly associated with survival. Limiting the training and independent testing to patients with the same imaging protocol reduced the AUC for CT patients to 0.55, and no covariates were selected for PET patients. Radiomics features were not consistently associated with survival in CT or PET images of head and neck patients, even within patients with the same imaging protocol.

CT radiomics and PET radiomics: ready for clinical implementation?

INTRODUCTION

Today, rapid technical and clinical developments result in an increasing number of treatment options for oncological diseases. Thus, decision support systems are needed to offer the right treatment to the right patient. Imaging biomarkers hold great promise in patient-individual treatment guidance. Routinely performed for diagnosis and staging, imaging datasets are expected to hold more information than used in the clinical practice. Radiomics describes the extraction of a large number of meaningful quantitative features from medical images, such as computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET). Due to the non-invasive nature and ability to capture 3D image-based heterogeneity, radiomic features are potential surrogate markers of the cancer phenotype. Several radiomic studies are published per day, owing to encouraging results of many radiomics-based patient outcome models. Despite this comparably large number of studies, radiomics is mainly studied in proof of principle concept. Hence, a translation of radiomics from a hot topic research field into an essential clinical decision-making tool is lacking, but of high clinical interest.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

Herein, we present a literature review addressing the clinical evidence of CT and PET radiomics. An extensive literature review was conducted in PubMed, including papers on robustness and clinical applications.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

We summarize image-modality related influences on the robustness of radiomic features and provide an overview of clinical evidence reported in the literature. Today, more evidence has been provided for CT imaging, however, PET imaging offers the promise of direct imaging of biological processes and functions. We provide a summary of future research directions, which needs to be addressed in order to successfully introduce radiomics into clinical medicine. In comparison to CT, more focus should be directed towards harmonization of PET acquisition and reconstruction protocols, which is important for transferable modelling.

CONCLUSIONS

Both CT and PET radiomics are promising pre-treatment and intra-treatment biomarkers for outcome prediction. Most studies are performed in retrospective setting, however their validation in prospective data collections is ongoing.

Texture analysis of pretreatment [18F]FDG PET/CT for the prognostic prediction of locally advanced salivary gland carcinoma treated with interstitial brachytherapy

Background

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of positron emission tomography (PET) parameters and the PET texture features of fluorine 18-fluorodeoxyglucose ([¹⁸F]FDG) uptake on pretreatment PET/computed tomography (CT) in patients with locally advanced salivary gland carcinoma treated with interstitial brachytherapy.

Methods

Forty-three patients with locally advanced salivary gland carcinoma of the head and neck were treated with ¹²⁵I interstitial brachytherapy as the sole modality and underwent [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT scanning before treatment. Tumor segmentation and texture analysis were performed using the 3D slicer software. In total, 54 features were extracted and categorized as first-order statistics, morphology and shape, gray-level co-occurrence matrix, and gray-level run length matrix. Up to November 2018, the follow-up time ranged from 6 to 120 months (median 18 months). Cumulative survival was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Factors between groups were compared by the log-rank test. Multivariate Cox regression analysis with a backward conditional method was used to predict progression-free survival (PFS).

Results

The 3- and 5-year locoregional control (LC) rates were 55.4% and 37.0%, respectively. The 3- and 5-year PFS rates were 51.2% and 34.1%, respectively. The 3- and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 77.0% and 77.0%, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed that minimum intensity, mean intensity, median intensity, root mean square, and long run emphasis (LRE) were significant predictors of PFS, whereas clinicopathological factors, conventional PET parameters, and PET texture features failed to show significance. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that minimum intensity and LRE were significant predictors of PFS.

Conclusions

The texture analysis of pretreatment [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT provided more information than conventional PET parameters for predicting patient prognosis of locally advanced salivary gland carcinoma treated with interstitial brachytherapy. The minimum intensity was a risk factor for PFS, and LRE was a favorable factor in prognostic prediction according to the primary results.

Feeding the Data Monster: Data Science in Head and Neck Cancer for Personalized Therapy

OBJECTIVE

Head and neck carcinomas are clinically challenging malignancies because of tumor heterogeneities and resilient tumor subvolumes that require individualized treatment planning and delivery for an improved outcome. Although current approaches to diagnosis and therapy have boosted locoregional control, the long-term survival in this patient group remains unchanged over the last decades. A new approach to head and neck cancer management is therefore needed to better identify patient subgroups that are responsive to specific therapies. The aim of this article is to review the current status of knowledge and practice utilizing big data toward personalized therapy in head and neck cancers based on CT and PET imaging modalities.

METHODS

Literature published in English since 2000 was searched using Medline. Additional articles were retrieved via pearling of identified literature. Publications were reviewed and summarized in tabulated format.

RESULTS

Studies based on big data in head and neck cancer are limited; however, the field of radiomics is under continuous development and provides valuable input for personalized treatment. Using PET/PET CT biomarkers for patient treatment individualization and response prediction seems promising, especially in regard to detection of hypoxia and clonogenic cancer stem cells. Literature shows that macroscopic changes in medical images (whether structural or functional) are correlated with biologic and biochemical changes within a tumor.

CONCLUSION

Current trends in data science suggest that the ideal model for decision support in head and neck cancers should be based on human-machine collaboration, namely, on (1) software-based algorithms, (2) physician innovation collaboratives, and (3) clinician mix optimization.

Radiomics in Oncological PET/CT: a Methodological Overview

Radiomics is a medical imaging analysis approach based on computer-vision. Metabolic radiomics in particular analyses the spatial distribution patterns of molecular metabolism on PET images. Measuring intratumoral heterogeneity via image is one of the main targets of radiomics research, and it aims to build a image-based model for better patient management. The workflow of radiomics using texture analysis follows these steps: 1) imaging (image acquisition and reconstruction); 2) preprocessing (segmentation & quantization); 3) quantification (texture matrix design & texture feature extraction); and 4) analysis (statistics and/or machine learning). The parameters or conditions at each of these steps are effect on the results. In statistical testing or modeling, problems such as multiple comparisons, dependence on other variables, and high dimensionality of small sample size data should be considered. Standardization of methodology and harmonization of image quality are one of the most important challenges with radiomics methodology. Even though there are current issues in radiomics methodology, it is expected that radiomics will be clinically useful in personalized medicine for oncology.

A review on radiomics and the future of theranostics for patient selection in precision medicine

The growing complexity and volume of clinical data and the associated decision-making processes in oncology promote the advent of precision medicine. Precision (or personalised) medicine describes preventive and/or treatment procedures that take individual patient variability into account when proscribing treatment, and has been hindered in the past by the strict requirements of accurate, robust, repeatable and preferably non-invasive biomarkers to stratify both the patient and the disease. In oncology, tumour subtypes are traditionally measured through repeated invasive biopsies, which are taxing for the patient and are cost and labour intensive. Quantitative analysis of routine clinical imaging provides an opportunity to capture tumour heterogeneity non-invasively, cost-effectively and on large scale. In current clinical practice radiological images are qualitatively analysed by expert radiologists whose interpretation is known to suffer from inter- and intra-operator variability. Radiomics, the high-throughput mining of image features from medical images, provides a quantitative and robust method to assess tumour heterogeneity, and radiomics-based signatures provide a powerful tool for precision medicine in cancer treatment. This study aims to provide an overview of the current state of radiomics as a precision medicine decision support tool. We first provide an overview of the requirements and challenges radiomics currently faces in being incorporated as a tool for precision medicine, followed by an outline of radiomics' current applications in the treatment of various types of cancer. We finish with a discussion of possible future advances that can further develop radiomics as a precision medicine tool.

[Radiomics: Big Data Instead of Biopsies in the Future?]

Precision medicine is increasingly pushed forward, also with respect to upcoming new targeted therapies. Individual characterization of diseases on the basis of biomarkers is a prerequisite for this development. So far, biomarkers are characterized clinically, histologically or on a molecular level. The implementation of broad screening methods (“Omics”) and the analysis of big data – in addition to single markers – allow to define biomarker signatures. Next to “Genomics”, “Proteomics”, and “Metabolicis”, “Radiomics” gained increasing interest during the last years. Based on radiologic imaging, multiple radiomic markers are extracted with the help of specific algorithms. These are correlated with clinical, (immuno-) histopathological, or genomic data. Underlying structural differences are based on the imaging metadata and are often not visible and therefore not detectable without specific software. Radiomics are depicted numerically or by graphs. The fact that radiomic information can be extracted from routinely performed imaging adds a specific appeal to this method. Radiomics could potentially replace biopsies and additional investigations. Alternatively, radiomics could complement other biomarkers and thus lead to a more precise, multimodal prediction. Until now, radiomics are primarily used to investigate solid tumors. Some promising studies in head and neck cancer have already been published.

Radiomics in Oncological PET/CT: Clinical Applications

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is widely used for staging, evaluating treatment response, and predicting prognosis in malignant diseases. FDG uptake and volumetric PET parameters such as metabolic tumor volume have been used and are still used as conventional PET parameters to assess biological characteristics of tumors. However, in recent years, additional features derived from PET images by computational processing have been found to reflect intratumoral heterogeneity, which is related to biological tumor features, and to provide additional predictive and prognostic information, which leads to the concept of radiomics. In this review, we focus on recent clinical studies of malignant diseases that investigated intratumoral heterogeneity on PET/CT, and we discuss its clinical role in various cancers.

Heterogeneity and irregularity of pretreatment 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography improved prognostic stratification of p16-negative high-risk squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx

OBJECTIVES

Human papillomavirus-negative oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) has unfavorable survival outcomes. Two outcomes have been identified based on smoking history and tumor stage. We investigate the prognostic role of pre-treatment positron emission tomography (PET) in high-risk OPSCC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We enrolled 147 M0 OPSCC patients with p16-negative staining and a history of heavy smoking (>10 pack-years) or T4 disease. All patients completed primary chemoradiotherapy, and 42% maximum standard uptake values (SUV_max) were used as the threshold for primary tumor. Patients were classified into training and validation cohorts with a ratio of 1:1.5 according to the PET date. Heterogeneity and irregularity indices were obtained. PET parameters with significant impact on progression-free survival (PFS) in receiver operating characteristic curves and univariate Cox models were identified and included in recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) for constructing a prognostic model. The RPA-based prognostic model was further tested in the validation cohort using multivariate Cox models.

RESULTS

Fifty-eight and 89 patients were in the training and validation groups, respectively. Heterogeneity parameter, SUV-entropy (derived from histogram analysis), and irregularity index, and asphericity were significantly associated with PFS. The RPA model revealed that patients with both high SUV-entropy and high asphericity experienced the worst PFS. Results were confirmed in the validation group. The overall concordance index for PFS of the model was 0.75, which was higher than the clinical stages, performance status, SUV_max, and metabolic tumor volume of PET.

CONCLUSIONS

PET prognostic model provided useful prediction of PFS for patients with high-risk OPSCC.