A radiogenomic clinical decision support system to inform individualized treatment in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

ABSTRACT

Both concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) and induction chemotherapy (ICT) followed by CCRT are standard care of advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, tailoring personalized treatment is lacking. Herein, we established a radiogenomic clinical decision support system to classify patients into three subgroups according to their predicted disease-free survival (DFS) with CCRT and ICT response. The CCRT-preferred group was suitable for CCRT since they achieved good survival with CCRT, which could not be improved by ICT. The ICT-preferred group was suitable for ICT plus CCRT since they had poor survival with CCRT; additional ICT could afford an improved DFS. The clinical trial-preferred group was suitable for clinical trials since they exhibited poor survival regardless of receiving CCRT or ICT plus CCRT. These findings suggest that our radiogenomic clinical decision support system could identify optimal candidates for CCRT, ICT plus CCRT, and clinical trials, and may thus aid in personalized management of advanced NPC.