Development and validation of a multiparametric MRI-based radiomics signature for distinguishing between indolent and aggressive prostate cancer

Abstract

Objective: To develop and validate a non-invasive MRI-based radiomics signature for distinguishing between indolent and aggressive prostate cancer (PCa) prior to therapy. Methods: In all, 139 qualified and pathology-confirmed PCa patients were divided into a training set (n = 93) and a validation set (n = 46). A total of 1576 radiomics features were extracted from the T2WI (n = 788) and diffusion-weighted imaging (n = 788) for each patient. The Select K Best and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression algorithm were used to construct a radiomics signature in the training set. The predictive performance of the radiomics signature was assessed in the training set and then validated in the validation set by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. We computed the calibration curve and the decision curve to evaluate the calibration and clinical usefulness of the signature. Results: Nine radiomics features were identified to form the radiomics signature. The radiomics score (Rad-score) was significantly different between indolent and aggressive PCa (p < 0.001). The radiomics signature exhibited favorable discrimination between the indolent and aggressive PCa groups in the training set (AUC: 0.853, 95% CI: 0.766 to 0.941) and validation set (AUC: 0.901, 95% CI: 0.793 to 1.000). The decision curve analysis showed that a greater net benefit would be obtained when the threshold probability ranged from 20 to 90%. Conclusion: The multiparametric MRI-based radiomics signature can potentially serve as a non-invasive tool for distinguishing between indolent and aggressive PCa prior to therapy. Advances in knowledge: The multiparametric MRI-based radiomics signature has the potential to non-invasively distinguish between the indolent and aggressive PCa, which might aid clinicians in making personalized therapeutic decisions.