Department of Translational Medical Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
Department of Radiology, Fondazione IRCCS, Istituto Nazionale Dei Tumori, Milan, Italy.
Eur J Radiol. 2021 Jul;140:109744. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109744. Epub 2021 Apr 30.
MRI based radiomics has the potential to better define tumor biology compared to qualitative MRI assessment and support decisions in patients affected by nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Aim of this review was to systematically evaluate the methodological quality of studies using MRI- radiomics for nasopharyngeal cancer patient evaluation.
A systematic search was performed in PUBMED, WEB OF SCIENCE and SCOPUS using "MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, radiomic, texture analysis, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, nasopharyngeal cancer" in all possible combinations. The methodological quality of study included ( = 24) was evaluated according to the RQS (Radiomic quality score). Subgroup, for journal type (imaging/clinical) and biomarker (prognostic/predictive), and correlation, between RQS and journal Impact Factor, analyses were performed. Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman's correlation were performed. P value < .05 were defined as statistically significant.
Overall, no studies reported a phantom study or a test re-test for assessing stability in image, biological correlation or open science data. Only 8% of them included external validation. Almost half of articles (45 %) performed multivariable analysis with non-radiomics features. Only 1 study was prospective (4%). The mean RQS was 7.5 ± 5.4. No significant differences were detected between articles published in clinical/imaging journal and between studies with a predictive or prognostic biomarker. No significant correlation was found between total RQS and Impact Factor of the year of publication (p always > 0.05).
Radiomic articles in nasopharyngeal cancer are mostly of low methodological quality. The greatest limitations are the lack of external validation, biological correlates, prospective design and open science.
与定性 MRI 评估相比，基于 MRI 的放射组学有可能更好地定义肿瘤生物学，并为鼻咽癌患者的决策提供支持。本综述的目的是系统评估使用 MRI 放射组学评估鼻咽癌患者的研究的方法学质量。
在 PUBMED、WEB OF SCIENCE 和 SCOPUS 中使用“MRI、磁共振成像、放射组学、纹理分析、鼻咽癌、鼻咽癌”的所有可能组合进行系统搜索。根据 RQS（放射组学质量评分）评估研究的方法学质量（ = 24）。进行了亚组分析，按期刊类型（影像学/临床）和生物标志物（预后/预测）进行分析，并分析了 RQS 与期刊影响因子之间的相关性。采用 Mann-Whitney U 检验和 Spearman 相关分析。定义 P 值<.05 为具有统计学意义。
总体而言，没有研究报告用于评估图像稳定性、生物学相关性或开放科学数据的体模研究或测试再测试。只有 8%的研究包括外部验证。几乎一半的文章（45%）进行了多变量分析，包括非放射组学特征。只有 1 项研究是前瞻性的（4%）。平均 RQS 为 7.5±5.4。发表在临床/影像学期刊上的文章和具有预测或预后生物标志物的研究之间没有发现显著差异。总 RQS 与发表年份的影响因子之间没有发现显著相关性（p 始终>.05）。
鼻咽癌放射组学文章的方法学质量大多较低。最大的局限性是缺乏外部验证、生物学相关性、前瞻性设计和开放科学。
