Correction for Magnetic Field Inhomogeneities and Normalization of Voxel Values Are Needed to Better Reveal the Potential of MR Radiomic Features in Lung Cancer.

Purpose: To design and validate a preprocessing procedure dedicated to T2-weighted MR images of lung cancers so as to improve the ability of radiomic features to distinguish between adenocarcinoma and other histological types. Materials and Methods: A discovery set of 52 patients with advanced lung cancer who underwent T2-weighted MR imaging at 3 Tesla in a single center study from August 2017 to May 2019 was used. Findings were then validated using a validation set of 19 additional patients included from May to October 2019. Tumor type was obtained from the pathology report after trans-thoracic needle biopsy, metastatic lymph node or metastasis samples, or surgical excisions. MR images were preprocessed using N4ITK bias field correction and by normalizing voxel intensities with fat as a reference region. Segmentation and extraction of radiomic features were performed with LIFEx software on the raw images, on the N4ITK-corrected images and on the fully preprocessed images. Two analyses were conducted where radiomic features were extracted: (1) from the whole tumor volume (3D analysis); (2) from all slices encompassing the tumor (2D analysis). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to identify features that could distinguish between adenocarcinoma and other histological types. Sham experiments were also designed to control the number of false positive findings. Results: There were 31 (12) adenocarcinomas and 21 (7) other histological types in the discovery (validation) set. In 2D, preprocessing increased the number of discriminant radiomic features from 8 without preprocessing to 22 with preprocessing. 2D analysis yielded more features able to identify adenocarcinoma than 3D analysis (12 discriminant radiomic features after preprocessing in 3D). Preprocessing did not increase false positive findings as no discriminant features were identified in any of the sham experiments. The greatest sensitivity of the 2D analysis applied to preprocessed data was confirmed in the validation set. Conclusion: Correction for magnetic field inhomogeneities and normalization of voxel values are essential to reveal the full potential of radiomic features to identify the tumor histological type from MR T2-weighted images, with classification performance similar to those reported in PET/CT and in multiphase CT in lung cancers.

18F-FDG PET Dissemination Features in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Are Predictive of Outcome.

We assessed the predictive value of new radiomic features characterizing lesion dissemination in baseline 18F-FDG PET and tested whether combining them with baseline metabolic tumor volume (MTV) could improve prediction of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients. Methods: From the LNH073B trial (NCT00498043), patients with advanced-stage DLCBL and 18F-FDG PET/CT images available for review were selected. MTV and several radiomic features, including the distance between the 2 lesions that were farthest apart (Dmaxpatient), were calculated. Receiver-operating-characteristic analysis was used to determine the optimal cutoff for quantitative variables, and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were performed. Results: With a median age of 46 y, 95 patients were enrolled, half of them treated with R-CHOP biweekly (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) and the other half with R-ACVBP (rituximab, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vindesine, bleomycin, and prednisone), with no significant impact on outcome. Median MTV and Dmaxpatient were 375 cm3 and 45 cm, respectively. The median follow-up was 44 mo. High MTV and Dmaxpatient were adverse factors for PFS (P = 0.027 and P = 0.0003, respectively) and for OS (P = 0.0007 and P = 0.0095, respectively). In multivariate analysis, only Dmaxpatient was significantly associated with PFS (P = 0.0014) whereas both factors remained significant for OS (P = 0.037 and P = 0.0029, respectively). Combining MTV (>384 cm3) and Dmaxpatient (>58 cm) yielded 3 risk groups for PFS (P = 0.0003) and OS (P = 0.0011): high with 2 adverse factors (4-y PFS and OS of 50% and 53%, respectively, n = 18), low with no adverse factor (94% and 97%, n = 36), and an intermediate category with 1 adverse factor (73% and 88%, n = 41). Conclusion: Combining MTV with a parameter reflecting the tumor burden dissemination further improves DLBCL patient risk stratification at staging.

A downsampling strategy to assess the predictive value of radiomic features.

Many studies are devoted to the design of radiomic models for a prediction task. When no effective model is found, it is often difficult to know whether the radiomic features do not include information relevant to the task or because of insufficient data. We propose a downsampling method to answer that question when considering a classification task into two groups. Using two large patient cohorts, several experimental configurations involving different numbers of patients were created. Univariate or multivariate radiomic models were designed from each configuration. Their performance as reflected by the Youden index (YI) and Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve (AUC) was compared to the stable performance obtained with the highest number of patients. A downsampling method is described to predict the YI and AUC achievable with a large number of patients. Using the multivariate models involving machine learning, YI and AUC increased with the number of patients while they decreased for univariate models. The downsampling method better estimated YI and AUC obtained with the largest number of patients than the YI and AUC obtained using the number of available patients and identifies the lack of information relevant to the classification task when no such information exists.

Equivalent Dose Rate 1 Meter from Neuroendocrine Tumor Patients Exiting the Nuclear Medicine Department After Undergoing Imaging.

123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) and 111In-pentetrotide SPECT have been used for functional imaging of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) for the last 2 decades. More recently, PET/CT imaging with 18F-FDG, 18F-fluorodihydroxyphenylalanine (FDOPA), and 68Ga somatostatin-receptor ligands in NETs has been expanding. A literature search could find no direct measurements of the dose rate from NET patients exiting the nuclear medicine department after undergoing PET/CT with 18F-FDOPA or 68Ga-DOTATOC, a somatostatin analog. Methods: We measured the dose rates from 93 NET patients on leaving the department after undergoing PET/CT or SPECT/CT in our centers. In total, 103 paired measurements of equivalent dose rate at 1 m (EDR-1m) from the sternum and urinary bladder were obtained. The detector faced the sternum or bladder and was 1 m away from and directly in front of the patient. The practice for exiting the department differed according to whether the patient had been referred for PET/CT or for SPECT/CT. PET/CT patients were discharged after imaging, whereas SPECT/CT patients left the department earlier, just after radiopharmaceutical injection. Results: The median administered activity was 122 MBq in 53 68Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT studies, 198 MBq in 15 18F-FDOPA PET/CT studies, and 176 MBq in 13 18F-FDG PET/CT studies. The corresponding median EDR-1m was 4.8, 9.5, and 8.8 µSv/h, respectively, facing the sternum, and 5.1, 10.1, and 9.5 µSv/h, respectively, facing the bladder. The median administered activity was 170 MBq in 12 111In-pentetreotide SPECT/CT studies and 186 MBq in 10 123I-MIBG SPECT/CT studies. The corresponding median EDR-1m was 9.4, and 4.9 µSv/h, respectively, at the level of the sternum, and 9.3 and 4.7 µSv/h, respectively, at the level of the bladder. The EDR-1m was less than 20 µSv/h in all patients. Thus, when exiting the nuclear medicine department, the NET patients injected with 68Ga-DOTATOC or 123I MIBG emitted an average EDR-1m roughly half that of patients injected with other radiopharmaceuticals. This finding is a complementary argument for replacing SPECT by PET somatostatin-receptor imaging. Conclusion: Our current practice of allowing patients to exit after PET/CT imaging or just after SPECT radiopharmaceutical injection appears to be safe from a radiation protection point of view. Restrictive advice is unnecessary for NET patients being discharged from the department.