Radiomics for prediction of central lymph node metastasis in the neck in patients with thyroid papillary carcinoma / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the feasibility of radiomics for predicting lymph node metastasis in the central region of the neck in patients with thyroid papillary carcinoma (PTC).@*METHODS@#A total of 189 patients with PTC confirmed by thyroid fine needle aspiration biopsy were prospectively enrolled in this study. The cross-sectional and longitudinal ultrasound images and the images of both sections were analyzed for predicting central lymph node metastasis using a radiomics approach with pathological results as the gold standard.@*RESULTS@#In the 189 patients, the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of preoperative thyroid ultrasonography for diagnosis of central lymph node metastasis was 69.39%, 64% and 73%, respectively. Based on the ultrasound images of the cross-sections, longitudinal sections and both sections, the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of radiomics for predicting central lymph node metastasis was 66.06%/68.12%/77.69%, 53%/46%/40%, and 52%/53%/51%, respectively.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Radiomics with combined analysis of the ultrasound images on the cross-section and longitudinal section images achieves a higher accuracy for predicting central lymph node metastasis than analysis a single section, and its diagnostic accuracy is much higher than that of conventional ultrasound examination.