MRI-based Radiomics Models Developed With Features Of The Whole Liver And Right Liver Lobe:Assessment Of Hepatic Inflammatory Activity In Chronic Hepatic Disease

Background and purpose: The noninvasive assessment of hepatic inflammatory activity(HIA)is crucial for making clinical decisions and monitoring therapeutic efficacy in chronic liver disease(CLD).We develop MRI-based radiomics models by extracting features from the whole liver and localized regions of the right liver lobe,compare the efficiency of two radiomics models,and further develop a radiomics nomogram for the assessment of HIA in CLD.Materials and Methods:A total of 137 patients were enrolled from January2015 to May 2019.All patients(nonsignificant HIA,n = 98;significant HIA,n = 39)were randomly divided into a training(n = 95)and a test cohort(n =42).Radiomics features were extracted from the regions covering the whole liver(ROI-w)and localized regions of the right liver lobe(ROI-r).Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator(LASSO)and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to select features and develop radiomics models.A combined model fusing the valuable radiomics features with clinical-radiological predictors was developed.Finally,a radiomics nomogram derived from the combined model was developed.Results: The area under the curve(AUC),sensitivity,and specificity of the ROI-w radiomics model in assessing HIA were 0.858,0.800,and 0.733,respectively.The ROI-r model were 0.844,0.733,and 0.867,respectively.No difference was detected between the two radiomics models(P = 0.8329).The combined model fusing valuable ROI-w radiomics features,albumin,and periportal edema exhibited a promising performance(AUC,0.911).The calibration curves showed good agreement between the actual observations and nomogram predictions.Conclusion: The MRI-based radiomics models had a powerful ability to evaluate HIA and the ROI-w radiomics model was comparable to the ROI-r model.Moreover,the radiomics nomogram could be a favorable method to individually estimate HIA in CLD.