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Magnetic resonance imaging based on radiomics for differentiating T1-category nasopharyngeal carcinoma from nasopharyngeal lymphoid hyperplasia: a multicenter study

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Japanese Journal of Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based on radiomics using T2-weighted imaging fat suppression (T2WI-FS) and contrast enhanced T1-weighted imaging (CE-T1WI) sequences in differentiating T1-category nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) from nasopharyngeal lymphoid hyperplasia (NPH).

Materials and methods

This study enrolled 614 patients (training dataset: n = 390, internal validation dataset: n = 98, and external validation dataset: n = 126) of T1-category NPC and NPH. Three feature selection methods were used, including analysis of variance, recursive feature elimination, and relief. The logistic regression classifier was performed to construct the radiomics signatures of T2WI-FS, CE-T1WI, and T2WI-FS + CE-T1WI to differentiate T1-category NPC from NPH. The performance of the optimal radiomics signature (T2WI-FS + CE-T1WI) was compared with those of three radiologists in the internal and external validation datasets.

Results

Twelve, 15, and 15 radiomics features were selected from T2WI-FS, CE-T1WI, and T2WI-FS + CE-T1WI to develop the three radiomics signatures, respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) values for radiomics signatures of T2WI-FS + CE-T1WI and CE-T1WI were significantly higher than that of T2WI-FS (AUCs = 0.940, 0.935, and 0.905, respectively) for distinguishing T1-category NPC and NPH in the training dataset (Ps all < 0.05). In the internal and external validation datasets, the radiomics signatures based on T2WI-FS + CE-T1WI and CE-T1WI outperformed T2WI-FS with no significant difference (AUCs = 0.938, 0.925, and 0.874 for internal validation dataset and 0.932, 0.918, and 0.882 for external validation dataset; Ps > 0.05). The radiomics signature of T2WI-FS + CE-T1WI significantly performed better than three radiologists in the internal and external validation datasets.

Conclusion

The MRI-based radiomics signature is meaningful in differentiating T1-category NPC from NPH and potentially helps clinicians select suitable therapy strategies.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the “Excellent doctor-Excellent Clinical Researcher” Project of Eye and ENT Hospital, Fudan University (grant number SYA202007) and “Keqing-Deji” science and technology innovation project of Fudan University (grant number SCH6222206A/022).

Funding

This work was supported by the “Excellent doctor-Excellent Clinical Researcher” Project of Eye and ENT Hospital, Fudan University (grant number SYA202007) and “Keqing-Deji” science and technology innovation project of Fudan University (grant number SCH6222206A/022).

Author information

Author notes

  1. **gfeng Cheng and Wenzhe Su are co-fist authors and contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, 83 Fenyang Road, Shanghai, 200031, China

    **gfeng Cheng, Yin Wang & Zuohua Tang

  2. Department of Radiology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Wenzhe Su & Shengjian Zhang

  3. Department of Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Yuzhe Wang & Yang Zhan

  4. Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Shuyu Yan, Yuan Yuan, Lingxin Chen & Zixun Wei

  5. Shanghai Universal Medical Imaging Diagnostic Center, Shanghai, 200233, China

    **n Gao

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  1. **gfeng Cheng
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation and data collection and analysis were performed by JC, WS, YW, YZ, YW, SY, YY, LC, and ZW. The first draft of the manuscript was written by JC and all authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to **n Gao or Zuohua Tang.

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The authors declared that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This retrospective study was approved by the ethics committee of participating hospitals, which waived the need for informed consent from individual patients.

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Cheng, J., Su, W., Wang, Y. et al. Magnetic resonance imaging based on radiomics for differentiating T1-category nasopharyngeal carcinoma from nasopharyngeal lymphoid hyperplasia: a multicenter study. Jpn J Radiol 42, 709–719 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-024-01544-0

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