Predicting treatment responses using magnetic resonance imaging-based radiomics in hepatocellular carcinoma patients undergoing transarterial radioembolization

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging-based radiomics in predicting treatment responses in hepatocellular carcinoma patients undergoing transarterial radioembolization. METHODS: Pre-treatment magnetic resonance imaging scans from 65 hepatocellular carcinoma patients were analyzed. Radiomic features were extracted from axial T1-weighted and T2-weighted sequences using a standardized workflow involving image preprocessing, segmentation, and feature extraction. Multivariate logistic regression models combining radiomic and clinical features were developed to predict treatment outcomes. The performance of the models was evaluated using the area under the curve metric. RESULTS: The study included 65 patients with a median age of 64 years; 44.6% showed a complete response, while 55.4% showed a non-complete response. The median radiomics score in the T1-weighted portal phase was -0.49 for non-complete responders and -0.07 for complete responders (p<0.001). In the T2-weighted sequence, the median radiomics score was -0.76 for non-complete responders and 1.1 for complete responders (p<0.001). Tumor size >= 5 cm was a significant predictor of non-complete response in univariate analysis (p=0.027) but not in multivariate analysis after adding radiomics scores. The area under the curve for the radiomics signature in predicting non-complete response was 0.754 for T1-weighted and 0.850 for T2-weighted sequences. CONCLUSION: Magnetic resonance imaging-based radiomics enhances the prediction of treatment responses in hepatocellular carcinoma patients undergoing transarterial radioembolization. Integrating radiomic features with clinical parameters significantly improves predictive accuracy.