Developed and validated a prognostic nomogram for recurrence-free survival after complete surgical resection of local primary gastrointestinal stromal tumors based on deep learning.

This study aimed to develop and validate a prognostic nomogram for recurrence-free survival (RFS) after surgery in the absence of adjuvant therapy to guide the selection for adjuvant imatinib therapy based on Residual Neural Network (ResNet). The ResNet model was developed based on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) in a training cohort consisted of 80 patients pathologically diagnosed gastrointestinal sromal tumors (GISTs) and validated in internal and external validation cohort respectively. Independent clinicopathologic factors were integrated with the ResNet model to construct the individualized nomogram. The performance of the nomogram was evaluated in regard to discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness. The ResNet model was significantly associated with RFS. Integrable predictors in the individualized ResNet nomogram included the tumor site, size, and mitotic count. Compared with modified NIH, AFIP, and clinicopathologic nomogram, both ResNet nomogram and ResNet model showed a better discrimination capability with AUCs of 0·947(95%CI, 0·910-0·984) for 3-year-RFS, 0·918(0·852-0·984) for 5-year-RFS, and AUCs of 0·912 (0·851-0·973) for 3-year-RFS, 0·887(0·816-0·960) for 5-year-RFS, respectively. Calibration curve shows the good calibration of the nomogram in terms of the agreement between the estimated and the observed 3- and 5- year outcomes. Decision curve analysis showed that the ResNet nomogram had a higher overall net benefit. In conclusion, we presented a deep learning-based prognostic nomogram to predict RFS after resection of localized primary GISTs with excellent performance and could be a potential tool to select patients for adjuvant imatinib therapy.