Texture analysis of intermediate-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: prognosis and patients' selection of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and sorafenib

Radiomics-Based Prediction Model for Outcome of Radioembolization in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

PURPOSE

To evaluate the benefit of a contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) radiomics-based model for predicting response and survival in patients with colorectal liver metastases treated with transarterial Yttrium-90 radioembolization (TARE).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Fifty-one patients who underwent TARE were included in this single-center retrospective study. Response to treatment was assessed using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST 1.1) at 3-month follow-up. Patients were stratified as responders (complete/partial response and stable disease, n = 24) or non-responders (progressive disease, n = 27). Radiomic features (RF) were extracted from pre-TARE CT after segmentation of the liver tumor volume. A model was built based on a radiomic signature consisting of reliable RFs that allowed classification of response using multivariate logistic regression. Patients were assigned to high- or low-risk groups for disease progression after TARE according to a cutoff defined in the model. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to analyze survival between high- and low-risk groups.

RESULTS

Two independent RF [Energy, Maximal Correlation Coefficient (MCC)], reflecting tumor heterogeneity, discriminated well between responders and non-responders. In particular, patients with higher magnitude of voxel values in an image (Energy), and texture complexity (MCC), were more likely to fail TARE. For predicting treatment response, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the radiomics-based model was 0.75 (95% CI 0.48-1). The high-risk group had a shorter overall survival than the low-risk group (3.4 vs. 6.4 months, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Our CT radiomics model may predict the response and survival outcome by quantifying tumor heterogeneity in patients treated with TARE for colorectal liver metastases.

A multi-institutional study to predict the benefits of DEB-TACE and molecular targeted agent sequential therapy in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma using a radiological-clinical nomogram

OBJECTIVE

Exploring the efficacy of a Radiological-Clinical (Rad-Clinical) model in predicting prognosis of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after drug eluting beads transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) to optimize the targeted sequential treatment.

METHODS

In this retrospective analysis, we included 202 patients with unresectable HCC who received DEB-TACE treatment in 17 institutions from June 2018 to December 2022. Progression-free survival (PFS)-related radiomics features were computationally extracted from HCC patients to build a radiological signature (Rad-signature) model with least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression. A Rad-Clinical model for postoperative PFS was further constructed according to the Rad-signature and clinical variables by Cox regression analysis. It was presented as a nomogram and evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curves, calibration curves, and decision curve analysis. And further evaluate the application value of Rad-Clinical model in clinical stages and targeted sequential therapy of HCC.

RESULTS

Tumor size, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage, and radiomics score (Rad-score) were found to be independent risk factors for PFS after DEB-TACE treatment for unresectable HCC, with the Rad-Clinical model being the greatest predictor of PFS in these patients (hazard ratio: 2.08; 95% confidence interval: 1.56-2.78; P < 0.001) along with high 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months area under the curves of 0.857, 0.810, 0.843, and 0.838, respectively. In addition, compared to the radiomics and clinical nomograms, the Radiological-Clinical nomogram also significantly improved the classification accuracy for PFS outcomes, based on the net reclassification improvement (45.2%, 95% CI 0.260-0.632, p < 0.05) and integrated discrimination improvement (14.9%, 95% CI 0.064-0.281, p < 0.05). Based on this model, low-risk patients had higher PFS than high-risk patients in BCLC-B and C stages (P = 0.021). Targeted sequential therapy for patients with high and low-risk HCC in BCLC-B stage exhibited significant benefits (P = 0.018, P = 0.012), but patients with high-risk HCC in BCLC-C stage did not benefit much (P = 0.052).

CONCLUSION

The Rad-Clinical model may be favorable for predicting PFS in patients with unresectable HCC treated with DEB-TACE and for identifying patients who may benefit from targeted sequential therapy.

Comparison of efficacy and safety between transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with lenvatinib versus TACE combined with sorafenib in the treatment of intermediate and advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

OBJECTIVE

To compare the clinical effect and safety of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with lenvatinib versus TACE combined with sorafenib in the treatment of intermediate-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

METHODS

In this retrospective study, 84 patients with intermediate-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC from June 2019 to June 2021 were enrolled. The control group was given TACE combined with sorafenib, and the experimental group was given TACE combined with lenvatinib. The clinical efficacy, tumor markers, liver function indexes, and occurrence of toxic and side effects were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

The disease control rate (DCR) and the objective remission rate (ORR) of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Before treatment, there were no significant differences in the levels of alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and des-gamma carboxyprothrombin (DCP) between the two groups (both P>0.05); after the treatment, the levels of AFP and DCP in both groups decreased, and those in the experimental group were lower than the control group (all P<0.05). Before treatment, there were no significant differences in the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) or lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), bilirubin (BIL) between the two groups (all P>0.05); after treatment, the levels of ALT, AST and LDH, BIL in both groups decreased, with the experimental group lower than the control group (all P<0.05). The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in the experimental group were significantly higher than in the control group (both P<0.05). The incidences of symptoms of diarrhea, hand-foot syndrome, hypertension and rash in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group (all P<0.05). Fatigue, digestive tract reaction, bone marrow suppression and abnormal liver function of the two groups were similar (all P>0.05).

CONCLUSION

Compared with TACE plus sorafenib, TACE plus lenvatinib can better control disease progression, reduce the levels of tumor markers, and stabilize the liver function of patients with intermediate-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Radiomics Analysis on Gadoxetate Disodium-Enhanced MRI Predicts Response to Transarterial Embolization in Patients with HCC

Objectives: To explore the potential of radiomics on gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI for predicting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) response after transarterial embolization (TAE). Methods: This retrospective study included cirrhotic patients treated with TAE for unifocal HCC naïve to treatments. Each patient underwent gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI. Radiomics analysis was performed by segmenting the lesions on portal venous (PVP), 3-min transitional, and 20-min hepatobiliary (HBP) phases. Clinical data, laboratory variables, and qualitative features based on LI-RADSv2018 were assessed. Reference standard was based on mRECIST response criteria. Two different radiomics models were constructed, a statistical model based on logistic regression with elastic net penalty (model 1) and a computational model based on a hybrid descriptive-inferential feature extraction method (model 2). Areas under the ROC curves (AUC) were calculated. Results: The final population included 51 patients with HCC (median size 20 mm). Complete and objective responses were obtained in 14 (27.4%) and 29 (56.9%) patients, respectively. Model 1 showed the highest performance on PVP for predicting objective response with an AUC of 0.733, sensitivity of 100%, and specificity of 40.0% in the test set. Model 2 demonstrated similar performances on PVP and HBP for predicting objective response, with an AUC of 0.791, sensitivity of 71.3%, specificity of 61.7% on PVP, and AUC of 0.790, sensitivity of 58.8%, and specificity of 90.1% on HBP. Conclusions: Radiomics models based on gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI can achieve good performance for predicting response of HCCs treated with TAE.

Systematic review: radiomics for the diagnosis and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Advances in imaging technology have the potential to transform the early diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) through quantitative image analysis. Computational "radiomic" techniques extract biomarker information from images which can be used to improve diagnosis and predict tumour biology.

AIMS

To perform a systematic review on radiomic features in HCC diagnosis and prognosis, with a focus on reporting metrics and methodologic standardisation.

METHODS

We performed a systematic review of all full-text articles published from inception through December 1, 2019. Standardised data extraction and quality assessment metrics were applied to all studies.

RESULTS

A total of 54 studies were included for analysis. Radiomic features demonstrated good discriminatory performance to differentiate HCC from other solid lesions (c-statistics 0.66-0.95), and to predict microvascular invasion (c-statistic 0.76-0.92), early recurrence after hepatectomy (c-statistics 0.71-0.86), and prognosis after locoregional or systemic therapies (c-statistics 0.74-0.81). Common stratifying features for diagnostic and prognostic radiomic tools included analyses of imaging skewness, analysis of the peritumoural region, and feature extraction from the arterial imaging phase. The overall quality of the included studies was low, with common deficiencies in both internal and external validation, standardised imaging segmentation, and lack of comparison to a gold standard.

CONCLUSIONS

Quantitative image analysis demonstrates promise as a non-invasive biomarker to improve HCC diagnosis and management. However, standardisation of protocols and outcome measurement, sharing of algorithms and analytic methods, and external validation are necessary prior to widespread application of radiomics to HCC diagnosis and prognosis in clinical practice.

Prediction of treatment response to transarterial radioembolization of liver metastases: Radiomics analysis of pre-treatment cone-beam CT: A proof of concept study

Purpose

To investigate the potential of texture analysis and machine learning to predict treatment response to transarterial radioembolization (TARE) on pre-interventional cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images in patients with liver metastases.

Materials and Methods

In this IRB-approved retrospective single-center study 36 patients with a total of 104 liver metastases (56 % male, mean age 61.1 ± 13 years) underwent CBCT prior to TARE and follow-up imaging 6 months after therapy. Treatment response was evaluated according to RECIST version 1.1 and dichotomized into disease control (partial response/stable disease) versus disease progression (progressive disease). After target lesion segmentation, 104 radiomics features corresponding to seven different feature classes were extracted with the pyRadiomics package. After dimension reduction machine learning classifications were performed on a custom artificial neural network (ANN). Ten-fold cross validation on a previously unseen test data set was performed.

Results

The average administered cumulative activity from TARE was 1.6 Gbq (± 0.5 Gbq). At a mean follow-up of 5.9 ± 0.8 months disease control was achieved in 82 % of metastases. After dimension reduction, 15 of 104 (15 %) texture analysis features remained for further analysis. On a previously unseen set of liver metastases the Multilayer Perceptron ANN yielded a sensitivity of 94.2 %, specificity of 67.7 % and an area-under-the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.85.

Conclusion

Our study indicates that texture analysis-based machine learning may has potential to predict treatment response to TARE using pre-treatment CBCT images of patients with liver metastases with high accuracy.

Radiomics of hepatocellular carcinoma: promising roles in patient selection, prediction, and assessment of treatment response

Radiomics refers to the process of conversion of conventional medical images into quantifiable data ("features") which can be further mined to reveal complex patterns and relationships between the voxels in the image. These high throughput features can potentially reflect the histology of biologic tissues at macroscopic and microscopic levels. Several studies have investigated radiomics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before and after treatment. HCC is a heterogeneous disease with diverse phenotypical and genotypical landscape. Due to this inherent heterogeneity, HCC lesions can manifest variable aggressiveness with different response to treatment options, including the newer targeted therapies. Hence, radiomics can be used as a potential tool to enable patient selection for therapies and to predict response to treatments and outcome. Additionally, radiomics may serve as a tool for earlier and more efficient assessment of response to treatment. Radiomics, radiogenomics, and radio-immunoprofiling and their potential roles in management of patients with HCC will be discussed and critically reviewed in this article.

Predicting the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma with the treatment of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization combined with microwave ablation using pretreatment MR imaging texture features

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the prognostic value of baseline magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) texture analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and microwave ablation (MWA).

METHODS

MRI was performed on 102 patients with HCC before receiving TACE combined with MWA in this retrospective study. The best 10 texture features were screened as a feature group for each MRI sequence by MaZda software using mutual information coefficient (MI), nonlinear discriminant analysis (NDA) and other methods. The optimal feature group with the lowest misdiagnosis rate was achieved on one MRI sequence between two groups dichotomized by 3-year survival, which was used to optimize the significant texture features with the optimal cutoff values. The Cox proportional hazards model was generated for the significant texture features and clinical variables to determine the independent predictors of overall survival (OS). The predictive performance of the model was further evaluated by the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Kaplan-Meier and log-rank tests were performed for disease-free survival (DFS) and Local recurrence-free survival (LRFS).

RESULTS

The optimal feature group with the lowest misdiagnosis rate of 8.82% was obtained on T2WI using MI combined with NDA feature analysis. For Cox proportional hazards regression models, the independent prognostic factors associated with OS were albumin (P = 0.047), BCLC stage (P = 0.001), Correlat_{(1,- 1)T2} (P = 0.01) and SumEntrp_(3,0)T2 (P = 0.015), and the prediction efficiency of multivariate model is AUC = 0.876, 95%CI = 0.803-0.949. Kaplan-Meier analyses further demonstrated that BCLC (P < 0.001), Correlat_{(1,- 1)T2} (P = 0.023) and SumEntrp_(3,0)T2 (P < 0.001) were associated with DFS, and BCLC (P = 0.007) related to LRFS.

CONCLUSIONS

MR imaging texture features may be used to predict the prognosis of HCC treated with TACE combined with MWA.

Current Status of Radiomics and Deep Learning in Liver Imaging

ABSTRACT

Artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize medical image. It takes advantage of the high-dimensional quantitative features present in medical images that may not be fully appreciated by humans. Artificial intelligence has the potential to facilitate automatic organ segmentation, disease detection and characterization, and prediction of disease recurrence. This article reviews the current status of artificial intelligence in liver imaging and reviews the opportunities and challenges in clinical implementation.

State of the Art in Artificial Intelligence and Radiomics in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The most common liver malignancy is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is also associated with high mortality. Often HCC develops in a chronic liver disease setting, and early diagnosis as well as accurate screening of high-risk patients is crucial for appropriate and effective management of these patients. While imaging characteristics of HCC are well-defined in the diagnostic phase, challenging cases still occur, and current prognostic and predictive models are limited in their accuracy. Radiomics and machine learning (ML) offer new tools to address these issues and may lead to scientific breakthroughs with the potential to impact clinical practice and improve patient outcomes. In this review, we will present an overview of these technologies in the setting of HCC imaging across different modalities and a range of applications. These include lesion segmentation, diagnosis, prognostic modeling and prediction of treatment response. Finally, limitations preventing clinical application of radiomics and ML at the present time are discussed, together with necessary future developments to bring the field forward and outside of a purely academic endeavor.

CT texture analysis of abdominal lesions – Part I.: Liver lesions

Artificial Intelligence and the use of radiomics analysis have been of great interest in the last decade in the field of imaging. CT texture analysis (CTTA) is a new and emerging field in radiomics, which seems promising in the assessment and diagnosis of both focal and diffuse liver lesions. The utilization of CTTA has only been receiving great attention recently, especially for response evaluation and prognostication of different oncological diagnoses. Radiomics, combined with machine learning techniques, offers a promising opportunity to accurately detect or differentiate between focal liver lesions based on their unique texture parameters. In this review article, we discuss the unique ability of radiomics in the diagnostics and prognostication of both focal and diffuse liver lesions. We also provide a brief review of radiogenomics and summarize its potential role of in the non-invasive diagnosis of malignant liver tumors.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Drug-Eluting Bead Transarterial Chemoembolization (DEB-TACE): Outcome Analysis Using a Model Based On Pre-Treatment CT Texture Features

(1) Introduction and Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the prognostic value, in terms of response and survival, of CT-based radiomics features for patients with HCC undergoing drug-eluting beads transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE). (2) Materials and Methods: Pre-treatment CT examinations of 50 patients with HCC, treated with DEB-TACE were manually segmented to obtain the tumor volumetric region of interest, extracting radiomics features with TexRAD. Response to therapy evaluation was performed basing on post-procedural CT examination compared to pre-procedural CT, using modified RECIST criteria for HCC. The prognostic value of texture analysis was evaluated, investigating the correlation between radiomics features, response to therapy and overall survival. Three models based on texture and clinical variables and a combination of them were finally built; (3) Results: Entropy, skewness, MPP and kurtosis showed a significant correlation with complete response (CR) to TACE (all p < 0.001). A predictive model to identify patients with a high and low probability of CR was evaluated with an ROC curve, with an AUC of 0.733 (p < 0.001). The three models built for survival prediction yielded an HR of 2.19 (95% CI: 2.03-2.35) using texture features, of 1.7 (95% CI: 1.54-1.9) using clinical data and of 4.61 (95% CI: 4.24-5.01) combining both radiomics and clinical data (all p < 0.0001). (4) Conclusion: Texture analysis based on pre-treatment CT examination is associated with response to therapy and survival in patients with HCC undergoing DEB-TACE, especially if combined with clinical data.

CT Image-Based Texture Analysis to Predict Microvascular Invasion in Primary Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The objective of this study was to determine the clinical value of computed tomography (CT) image-based texture analysis in predicting microvascular invasion of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). CT images of patients with HCC from May 2017 to May 2019 confirmed by surgery and histopathology were retrospectively analyzed. Image features including tumor margin, tumor capsule, peritumoral enhancement, hypoattenuating halo, intratumoral arteries, and tumor-liver differences were assessed. All patients were divided into microvascular invasion (MVI)-negative group (n = 34) and MVI-positive group (n = 68). Preoperative CT images were further imported into MaZda software, where the regions of interest of the lesions were manually delineated. Texture features of lesions based on pre-contrast, arterial, portal, and equilibrium phase CT images were extracted. Thirty optimal texture parameters were selected from each phase by Fisher's coefficient (Fisher), classification error probability combined with average correlation coefficient (POE+ACC), and mutual information (MI). Finally, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed. The results showed that the Edmonson-Steiner grades, tumor size, tumor margin, and intratumoral artery characteristics were significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.012, < 0.001, < 0.001, = 0.003, respectively). There were 58 parameters with significant differences between the MVI-negative and MVI-positive groups (P < 0.001 for all). Among them, 12, 14, 17, and 15 parameters were derived from the pre-contrast phase, arterial phase, portal phase, and equilibrium phase respectively. According to the ROC analysis, optimal texture parameters based on the pre-contrast, arterial, portal, and equilibrium phases were 135dr_GLevNonU (AUC, 0.766; the cutoff value, 1055.00), Vertl_RLNonUni (AUC, 0.764; the cutoff value, 5974.38), 45dgr_GLevNonU (AUC, 0.762; the cutoff value, 924.34), and Vertl_RLNonUni (AUC, 0.754; the cutoff value, 4868.80), respectively. Texture analysis of preoperative CT images may be used as a non-invasive method to predict microvascular invasion in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinomas, and further to guide the treatment and evaluate prognosis. The most valuable parameters were derived from the gray-level run-length matrix.

The application of texture quantification in hepatocellular carcinoma using CT and MRI: a review of perspectives and challenges

Recently, radiomic texture quantification of tumors has received much attention from radiologists, scientists, and stakeholders because several results have shown the feasibility of using the technique to diagnose and manage oncological conditions. In patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, radiomics has been applied in all stages of tumor evaluation, including diagnosis and characterization of the genotypic behavior of the tumor, monitoring of treatment responses and prediction of various clinical endpoints. It is also useful in selecting suitable candidates for specific treatment strategies. However, the clinical validation of hepatocellular carcinoma radiomics is limited by challenges in imaging protocol and data acquisition parameters, challenges in segmentation techniques, dimensionality reduction, and modeling methods. Identification of the best segmentation and optimal modeling methods, as well as texture features most stable to imaging protocol variability would go a long way in harmonizing HCC radiomics for personalized patient care. This article reviews the process of HCC radiomics, its clinical applications, associated challenges, and current optimization strategies.

Diagnostic advances of artificial intelligence and radiomics in gastroenterology

Traditional medical imaging, including ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or positron emission tomography, remains widely used diagnostic modalities for gastrointestinal diseases at present. These modalities are used to assess changes in morphology, attenuation, signal intensity, and enhancement characteristics. Gastrointestinal tumors, especially malignant tumors, are commonly seen in clinical practice with an increasing number of deaths each year. Because the imaging manifestations of different diseases usually overlap, accurate early diagnosis of tumor lesions, noninvasive and effective evaluation of tumor staging, and prediction of prognosis remain challenging. Fortunately, traditional medical images contain a great deal of important information that cannot be recognized by human eyes but can be extracted by artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which can quantitatively assess the heterogeneity of lesions and provide valuable information, including therapeutic effects and patient prognosis. With the development of computer technology, the combination of medical imaging and AI technology is considered to represent a promising field in medical image analysis. This new emerging field is called “radiomics”, which makes big data mining and extraction from medical imagery possible and can help clinicians make effective decisions and develop personalized treatment plans. Recently, AI and radiomics have been gradually applied to lesion detection, qualitative and quantitative diagnosis, histopathological grading and staging of tumors, therapeutic efficacy assessment, and prognosis evaluation. In this minireview, we briefly introduce the basic principles and technology of radiomics. Then, we review the research and application of AI and radiomics in gastrointestinal diseases, especially diagnostic advancements of radiomics in the differential diagnosis, treatment option, assessment of therapeutic efficacy, and prognosis evaluation of esophageal, gastric, hepatic, pancreatic, and colorectal diseases.

Radiomics based on artificial intelligence in liver diseases: where we are?

Radiomics uses computers to extract a large amount of information from different types of images, form various quantifiable features, and select relevant features using artificial-intelligence algorithms to build models, in order to predict the outcomes of clinical problems (such as diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, etc.). The study of liver diseases by radiomics will contribute to early diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases and improve survival and cure rates of liver diseases. This field is currently in the ascendant and may have great development in the future. Therefore, we summarize the progress of current research in this article and then point out the related deficiencies and the direction of future research.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Single-Phase Computed Tomography Texture Analysis for Prediction of LI-RADS v2018 Category

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to determine if texture analysis can classify liver observations likely to be hepatocellular carcinoma based on the Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) using single portal venous phase computed tomography.

METHODS

This research ethics board-approved retrospective cohort study included 64 consecutive LI-RADS observations. Individual observation texture analysis features were compared using Kruskal-Wallis and 2 sample t tests. Logistic regression was used for prediction of LI-RADS group. Diagnostic accuracy was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves and Youden method.

RESULTS

Multiple texture features were associated with LI-RADS including the mean HU (P = 0.003), median (P = 0.002), minimum (P = 0.010), maximum (P = 0.013), standard deviation (P = 0.009), skewness (P = 0.007), and entropy (P < 0.001). On logistic regression, LI-RADS group could be predicted with area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.98, 96%, and 100%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Texture analysis features on portal venous phase computed tomography can identify liver observations likely to be hepatocellular carcinoma, which may preclude the need to recall some patients for additional multiphase imaging.

Assessment of the response of hepatocellular carcinoma to interventional radiology treatments

According to Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) guidelines, interventional radiology procedures are valuable treatment options for many hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) that are not amenable to resection or transplantation. Accurate assessment of the efficacy of therapies at earlier stages enables completion of treatment, optimal follow-up and to prevent potentially unnecessary treatments, side effects and costly failure. The goal of this review is to summarize and describe the radiological strategies that have been proposed to predict survival and to stratify HCC responses after interventional radiology therapies. New techniques currently in development are also described.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma: State of the Art Imaging and Recent Advances

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing, with this trend expected to continue to the year 2030. Hepatocarcinogenesis follows a predictable course, which makes adequate identification and surveillance of at-risk individuals central to a successful outcome. Moreover, imaging is central to this surveillance, and ultimately to diagnosis and management. Many liver study groups throughout Asia, North America and Europe advocate a surveillance program for at-risk individuals to allow early identification of HCC. Ultrasound is the most commonly utilized imaging modality. Many societies offer guidelines on how to diagnose HCC. The Liver Image Reporting and Data System (LIRADS) was introduced to standardize the acquisition, interpretation, reporting and data collection of HCC cases. The LIRADS advocates diagnosis using multiphase computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) imaging. The 2017 version also introduces contrast-enhanced ultrasound as a novel approach to diagnosis. Indeed, imaging techniques have evolved to improve diagnostic accuracy and characterization of HCC lesions. Newer techniques, such as T1 mapping, intravoxel incoherent motion analysis and textural analysis, assess specific characteristics that may help grade the tumor and guide management, allowing for a more personalized approach to patient care. This review aims to analyze the utility of imaging in the surveillance and diagnosis of HCC and to assess novel techniques which may increase the accuracy of imaging and determine optimal treatment strategies.

Radiomics score: a potential prognostic imaging feature for postoperative survival of solitary HCC patients

Background

Radiomics is an emerging field in oncological research. In this study, we aimed at developing a radiomics score (rad-score) to estimate postoperative recurrence and survival in patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods

A total of 319 solitary HCC patients (training cohort: n = 212; validation cohort: n = 107) were enrolled. Radiomics features were extracted from the artery phase of preoperatively acquired computed tomography (CT) in all patients. A rad-score was generated by using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) logistic model. Kaplan-Meier and Cox’s hazard regression analyses were used to evaluate the prognostic significance of the rad-score. Final nomograms predicting recurrence and survival of solitary HCC patients were established based on the rad-score and clinicopathological factors. C-index and calibration statistics were used to assess the performance of nomograms.

Results

Six potential radiomics features were selected out of 110 texture features to formulate the rad-score. Low rad-score positively correlated with aggressive tumor phenotypes, like larger tumor size and vascular invasion. Meanwhile, low rad-score was significantly associated with increased recurrence and reduced survival. In addition, multivariate analysis identified the rad-score as an independent prognostic factor (recurrence: Hazard ratio (HR): 2.472, 95% confident interval (CI): 1.339–4.564, p = 0.004;survival: HR: 1.558, 95%CI: 1.022–2.375, p = 0.039). Notably, the nomogram integrating rad-score had a better prognostic performance as compared with traditional staging systems. These results were further confirmed in the validation cohort.

Conclusions

The preoperative CT image based rad-score was an independent prognostic factor for the postoperative outcome of solitary HCC patients. This score may be complementary to the current staging system and help to stratify individualized treatments for solitary HCC patients.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-5024-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Predicting Survival Using Pretreatment CT for Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated With Transarterial Chemoembolization: Comparison of Models Using Radiomics

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of radiomics features as prognostic biomarkers for predicting the survival of patients treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed 88 patients with HCC treated with TACE. High-dimensional quantitative feature analysis was applied to extract 116 radiomics features of pretreatment CT. A radiomics score model was constructed from these features with the use of least absolute shrinkage and selection operator Cox regression. A clinical score model was constructed from clinical variables with the use of multivariate Cox regression. A combined score model was constructed using the radiomics and clinical models. We compared the three models (the radiomics score, clinical score, and combined score models) for predicting overall survival, using Kaplan-Meier analysis and the log-rank test.

RESULTS

The following radiomics features were selected for the radiomics score model: histogram-based features (median, kurtosis, and energy), shape-based features (spherical disproportion and surface-to-volume ratio), gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM)-based features (energy, informational measure of correlation, maximum probability, contrast, and sum average), and intensity size zone matrix-based features (size zone variability). For the clinical score model, the Child-Pugh score, α-fetoprotein level, and HCC size were included. The combined score model included five radiomics features (surface area-to-volume ratio, kurtosis, median, gray-level co-occurrence matrix contrast, and size zone variability) and three clinical factors (Child-Pugh score, α-fetoprotein level, and HCC size). The combined model was a better predictor of survival (hazard ratio, 19.88; p < 0.0001) than the clinical score model or the radiomics score model.

CONCLUSION

A radiomics approach combined with conventional clinical variables could be effective in predicting the survival of patients with HCC treated with TACE.

Hepatocellular carcinoma: CT texture analysis as a predictor of survival after surgical resection

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether image texture parameters analysed on pre-operative contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) can predict overall survival and recurrence-free survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated by surgical resection.

METHODS

We retrospectively included all patients operated for HCC who had liver contrast-enhanced CT within 3 months prior to treatment in our centre between 2010 and 2015. The following texture parameters were evaluated on late-arterial and portal-venous phases: mean grey-level, standard deviation, kurtosis, skewness and entropy. Measurements were made before and after spatial filtration at different anatomical scales (SSF) ranging from 2 (fine texture) to 6 (coarse texture). Lasso penalised Cox regression analyses were performed to identify independent predictors of overall survival and recurrence-free survival.

RESULTS

Forty-seven patients were included. Median follow-up time was 345 days (interquartile range [IQR], 176-569). Nineteen patients had a recurrence at a median time of 190 days (IQR, 141-274) and 13 died at a median time of 274 days (IQR, 96-411). At arterial CT phase, kurtosis at SSF = 4 (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] = 3.23 [1.35-7.71] p = 0.0084) was independent predictor of overall survival. At portal-venous phase, skewness without filtration (HR [CI 95%] = 353.44 [1.31-95102.23], p = 0.039), at SSF2 scale (HR [CI 95%] = 438.73 [2.44-78968.25], p = 0.022) and SSF3 (HR [CI 95%] = 14.43 [1.38-150.51], p = 0.026) were independently associated with overall survival. No textural feature was identified as predictor of recurrence-free survival.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with resectable HCC, portal venous phase-derived CT skewness is significantly associated with overall survival and may potentially become a useful tool to select the best candidates for resection.

KEY POINTS

• HCC heterogeneity as evaluated by texture analysis of contrast-enhanced CT images may predict overall survival in patients treated by surgical resection. • Among texture parameters, skewness assessed at different anatomical scales at portal-venous phase CT is an independent predictor of overall survival after resection. • In patients with HCC, CT texture analysis may have the potential to become a useful tool to select the best candidates for resection.

Value of texture analysis based on enhanced MRI for predicting an early therapeutic response to transcatheter arterial chemoembolisation combined with high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM

To evaluate the potential value of texture analysis (TA) based on contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for predicting an early response of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who were treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolisation (TACE) combined with high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Patients with HCC (n=89) who underwent contrast-enhanced MRI at 1.5 T 1 week before and 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after TACE/HIFU were included in this retrospective study. Early responses were evaluated by two radiologists according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Cancer of the Liver (RECICL). An independent Student's t-test and the Mann-Whitney U-test were used to compare the TA parameters between the complete response (CR) group and the non-complete response (NCR) group. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to assess the predictive value of the NCR lesions.

RESULTS

Among the 89 patients, 58 showed CR and 31 showed NCR. Before TACE/HIFU, the CR group showed higher uniformity and energy but lower entropy than the NCR group (p<0.05). After TACE/HIFU, the CR group showed higher uniformity and energy but lower entropy and skewness than the NCR group (p<0.05). The logistic regression and ROC curve analyses showed that the entropy before TACE/HIFU and the skewness and entropy 1 week after TACE/HIFU were predictors of an early response.

CONCLUSION

TA parameters based on contrast-enhanced MRI images 1 week before and after TACE/HIFU may act as imaging biomarkers to predict an early response of patients with HCC.

Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Pretreatment Contrast-enhanced CT Texture Parameters as Predictive Biomarkers of Survival in Patients Treated with Sorafenib

Purpose To determine whether texture features on pretreatment contrast material-enhanced computed tomographic (CT) images can help predict overall survival (OS) and time to progression (TTP) in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with sorafenib. Materials and Methods This retrospective study included 92 patients with advanced HCC treated with sorafenib between January 2009 and April 2015 at two independent university hospitals. Sixty-four of the 92 patients (70%) (six women, 58 men; median age, 66 years) were included from institution 1 and constituted a training cohort; 28 patients (30%) (five women, 23 men; median age, 64 years) were included from institution 2 and constituted a validation cohort. Pretreatment CT texture analysis was performed on late arterial and portal venous phase HCC images. Mean gray-level intensity, entropy, kurtosis, skewness, and standard deviation values were derived from the pixel distribution histogram before and after spatial filtration at different anatomic scales ranging from fine to coarse texture. Lesion heterogeneity was also visually graded on a 4-point scale. Correlations between visual analysis and texture parameters were assessed with the Spearman rank correlation. Univariate Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed in the training cohort to identify independent predictors of OS and TTP. Their predictive capacity was tested on the validation cohort by using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results Visual analysis of tumor heterogeneity correlated with entropy at both arterial (P = .012) and portal venous (P = .038) phases. Portal phase-derived entropy at fine (hazard ratio [HR], 5.08; P = .0033), medium (HR, 2.23; P = .019), and coarse (HR, 2.26; P = .0032) texture scales was identified as an independent predictor of OS and confirmed in the validation cohort (P < .05). The difference in median survival between patients in the validation cohort with entropy values below and above the identified threshold was 272 days (with fine texture) and 741 days (with medium and coarse textures). Arterial phase-derived texture parameters (P > .085) and visual analysis (P > .11) were not associated with changes in survival. Conclusion Pretreatment portal venous phase-derived tumor entropy may be a predictor of survival in patients with advanced HCC treated with sorafenib.

Radiogenomics and IR

Radiogenomics involves the integration of mineable data from imaging phenotypes with genomic and clinical data to establish predictive models using machine learning. As a noninvasive surrogate for a tumor's in vivo genetic profile, radiogenomics may potentially provide data for patient treatment stratification. Radiogenomics may also supersede the shortcomings associated with genomic research, such as the limited availability of high-quality tissue and restricted sampling of tumoral subpopulations. Interventional radiologists are well suited to circumvent these obstacles through advancements in image-guided tissue biopsies and intraprocedural imaging. Comprehensive understanding of the radiogenomic process is crucial for interventional radiologists to contribute to this evolving field.

CT Texture Analysis: Definitions, Applications, Biologic Correlates, and Challenges

This review discusses potential oncologic and nononcologic applications of CT texture analysis ( CTTA CT texture analysis ), an emerging area of "radiomics" that extracts, analyzes, and interprets quantitative imaging features. CTTA CT texture analysis allows objective assessment of lesion and organ heterogeneity beyond what is possible with subjective visual interpretation and may reflect information about the tissue microenvironment. CTTA CT texture analysis has shown promise in lesion characterization, such as differentiating benign from malignant or more biologically aggressive lesions. Pretreatment CT texture features are associated with histopathologic correlates such as tumor grade, tumor cellular processes such as hypoxia or angiogenesis, and genetic features such as KRAS or epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status. In addition, and likely as a result, these CT texture features have been linked to prognosis and clinical outcomes in some tumor types. CTTA CT texture analysis has also been used to assess response to therapy, with decreases in tumor heterogeneity generally associated with pathologic response and improved outcomes. A variety of nononcologic applications of CTTA CT texture analysis are emerging, particularly quantifying fibrosis in the liver and lung. Although CTTA CT texture analysis seems to be a promising imaging biomarker, there is marked variability in methods, parameters reported, and strength of associations with biologic correlates. Before CTTA CT texture analysis can be considered for widespread clinical implementation, standardization of tumor segmentation and measurement techniques, image filtration and postprocessing techniques, and methods for mathematically handling multiple tumors and time points is needed, in addition to identification of key texture parameters among hundreds of potential candidates, continued investigation and external validation of histopathologic correlates, and structured reporting of findings. ^©RSNA, 2017.

Differences in Texture Analysis Parameters Between Active Alveolitis and Lung Fibrosis in Chest CT of Patients with Systemic Sclerosis: A Feasibility Study

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to determine the diagnostic aid of computed tomography (CT) features for the differentiation of active alveolitis and fibrosis using a CT texture analysis (CTTA) prototype and CT densitometry in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) using ancillary high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) features and their longitudinal course as standard of reference.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed thin-slice noncontrast chest CT image data of 43 patients with SSc (18 men, mean age 51.55 ± 15.52 years; range 23-71 years). All of them had repeated noncontrast enhanced HRCT of the lung. Classification into active alveolitis or fibrosis was done on HRCT based on classical HRCT findings (active alveolitis [19; 44.2%] and fibrosis [24; 55.8%]) and their course at midterm. Results were compared to pulmonary functional tests and were followed up by CT. Ground glass opacity was considered suggestive of alveolitis, whereas coarse reticulation with parenchymal distortion, traction bronchiectasis, and honeycombing were assigned to fibrosis.

RESULTS

Statistically significant differences in CTTA were found for first-order textural features (mean intensity, average, deviation, skewness) and second-order statistics (entropy of co-occurrence matrix, mean number of nonuniformity (NGLDM), entropy of NGLDM, entropy of heterogeneity, intensity, and average). Cut-off value for the prediction of fibrosis at baseline was significant for entropy of intensity (P value < .001) and for mean deviation (P value < .001), and for prediction of alveolitis was significant for uniformity of intensity (P value < .001) and for NGLDM (P value < .001). At pulmonary functional tests, forced expiratory volume in 1 second and single-breath diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide were significantly lower in fibrosis than in alveolitis 2.03 ± 0.78 vs. 2.61 ± 0.83, P < .016 and 4.51 ± 1.61 vs. 6.04 ± 1.75, P < .009, respectively. Differences in CT densitometry between alveolitis and fibrosis were not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

CTTA parameters are significantly different in active alveolitis vs. fibrosis in patients with SSc and may be helpful for differentiation of these two entities.