Lung cancer radiotherapy
Radiomic phenotype features predict pathological response in non-small cell lung cancer

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radonc.2016.04.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Background and purpose

Radiomics can quantify tumor phenotype characteristics non-invasively by applying advanced imaging feature algorithms. In this study we assessed if pre-treatment radiomics data are able to predict pathological response after neoadjuvant chemoradiation in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Materials and Methods

127 NSCLC patients were included in this study. Fifteen radiomic features selected based on stability and variance were evaluated for its power to predict pathological response. Predictive power was evaluated using area under the curve (AUC). Conventional imaging features (tumor volume and diameter) were used for comparison.

Results

Seven features were predictive for pathologic gross residual disease (AUC > 0.6, p-value < 0.05), and one for pathologic complete response (AUC = 0.63, p-value = 0.01). No conventional imaging features were predictive (range AUC = 0.51–0.59, p-value > 0.05). Tumors that did not respond well to neoadjuvant chemoradiation were more likely to present a rounder shape (spherical disproportionality, AUC = 0.63, p-value = 0.009) and heterogeneous texture (LoG 5 mm 3D – GLCM entropy, AUC = 0.61, p-value = 0.03).

Conclusion

We identified predictive radiomic features for pathological response, although no conventional features were significantly predictive. This study demonstrates that radiomics can provide valuable clinical information, and performed better than conventional imaging features.

Section snippets

Patient selection

Patients with stage II–III NSCLC treated at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute between 2001 and 2013 who were treated with neoadjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy (chemoradiation) prior to surgical resection were included in this study. Patients with distant metastasis at presentation or delay in surgery greater than 120 days after the completion of chemoradiation were excluded. For all patients, CT imaging at the initiation of chemoradiation and prior to surgical resection was available. No

Results

127 patients with NSCLC were included in this study. The median age was 60.5 years (range 32.7–77.6 years), with a majority of women (53.5%) and white (92.1%). Tumor histology was predominantly adenocarcinoma (56.6%) and AJCC [27] stage IIIA (75.6%). The median follow-up was 41.8 months (range 2.7–117.2). The distribution of pathological response was 27 (21.3%), 33 (26.0%) and 67 (52.7%) respectively for complete response, microscopic and gross residual disease.

All treatment information can be

Discussion

Radiomics [1] is an emerging field of quantitative imaging that aims to extract phenotypic tumor information from clinical imaging data. In this study we demonstrate the predictive power of radiomic phenotypic features for pathological response in patients with NSCLC. Pathological response is a standard endpoint, assessed at time of surgery for a direct measure of neoadjuvant chemotherapy effect. Pathologic response was significantly associated with clinical outcomes in our study (distant

Disclaimer

None.

Funding

Authors acknowledge financial support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH-USA U24CA194354, and NIH-USA U01CA190234). This project was partially funded by the Kaye Scholar Award and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology Clinical Translational Grant.

Conflict of interest statement

None.

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