<scp>MRI</scp>‐Based Radiomics Models Developed With Features of the Whole Liver and Right Liver Lobe: Assessment of Hepatic Inflammatory Activity in Chronic Hepatic Disease
Junjie Song, Xiangling Yu, Wenlong Song, Dajing Guo, Chuanming Li, Huan Liu, Haiping Zhang, Jun Zhou, Yangyang Liu
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The noninvasive assessment of hepatic inflammatory activity (HIA) is crucial for making clinical decisions and monitoring therapeutic efficacy in chronic liver disease (CLD). PURPOSE: To develop MRI-based radiomics models by extracting features from the whole liver and localized regions of the right liver lobe, compare the efficiency of two radiomics models, and further develop a radiomics nomogram for the assessment of HIA in CLD. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective. POPULATION: In all, 137 consecutive patients. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: -weighted imaging. ASSESSMENT: All patients (nonsignificant HIA, n = 98; significant HIA, n = 39) were randomly divided into a training (n = 95) and a test cohort (n = 42). Radiomics features were extracted from the regions covering the whole liver (ROI-w) and localized regions of the right liver lobe (ROI-r). Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to select features and develop radiomics models. A combined model fusing the valuable radiomics features with clinical-radiological predictors was developed. Finally, a radiomics nomogram derived from the combined model was developed. STATISTICAL TESTS: Synthetic minority oversampling technique algorithm, LASSO, receiver operator characteristic curve, and calibration curve analysis were performed. RESULTS: The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity of the ROI-w radiomics model in assessing HIA were 0.858, 0.800, and 0.733, respectively. The ROI-r model were 0.844, 0.733, and 0.867, respectively. No differences were detected between the two radiomics models (P = 0.8329). The combined model fusing valuable ROI-w radiomics features, albumin, and periportal edema exhibited a promising performance (AUC, 0.911). The calibration curves showed good agreement between the actual observations and nomogram predictions. DATA CONCLUSION: The MRI-based radiomics models had a powerful ability to evaluate HIA and the ROI-w radiomics model was comparable to the ROI-r model. Moreover, the radiomics nomogram could be a favorable method to individually estimate HIA in CLD. J. MAGN. RESON. IMAGING 2020;52:1668-1678.