Exploring MRI based radiomics analysis of intratumoral spatial heterogeneity in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with intensity modulated radiotherapy

Farhan Akram, Ping En Koh, Fuqiang Wang, Siqin Zhou, Sze Huey Tan, Mahsa Paknezhad, Sojeong Park, Tiffany Hennedige, Choon Hua Thng, Hwee Kuan Lee, Kiattisa Sommat*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Background We hypothesized that spatial heterogeneity exists between recurrent and non-recurrent regions within a tumor. The aim of this study was to determine if there is a difference between radiomics features derived from recurrent versus non recurrent regions within the tumor based on pre-treatment MRI. Methods A total of 14 T4NxM0 NPC patients with histologically proven “in field” recurrence in the post nasal space following curative intent IMRT were included in this study. Pretreatment MRI were co-registered with MRI at the time of recurrence for the delineation of gross tumor volume at diagnosis(GTV) and at recurrence(GTVr). A total of 7 histogram features and 40 texture features were computed from the recurrent(GTVr) and non-recurrent region(GTV-GTVr). Paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were carried out on the 47 quantified radiomics features. Results A total of 7 features were significantly different between recurrent and non-recurrent regions. Other than the variance from intensity-based histogram, the remaining six significant features were either from the gray-level size zone matrix (GLSZM) or the neighbourhood gray-tone difference matrix (NGTDM). Conclusions The radiomic features extracted from pre-treatment MRI can potentially reflect the difference between recurrent and non-recurrent regions within a tumor and has a potential role in pre-treatment identification of intra-tumoral radio-resistance for selective dose escalation.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0240043
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume15
Issue number10 October
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Oct 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2020 Akram et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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