Decoding tumour phenotype by noninvasive imaging using a quantitative radiomics approach

Authors: 
Hugo J. W. L. Aerts, Emmanuel Rios Velazquez, Ralph T. H. Leijenaar, Chintan Parmar, Patrick Grossmann, Sara Carvalho, Johan Bussink, René Monshouwer, Benjamin Haibe-Kains, Derek Rietveld, Frank Hoebers, Michelle M. Rietbergen, C. René Leemans, Andre Dekker, John Quackenbush, Robert J. Gillies, Philippe Lambin
Paper's DOI: 
Year: 
2014

Human cancers exhibit strong phenotypic differences that can be visualized noninvasively by medical imaging. Radiomics refers to the comprehensive quantification of tumour phenotypes by applying a large number of quantitative image features. Here we present a radiomic analysis of 440 features quantifying tumour image intensity, shape and texture, which are extracted from computed tomography data of 1,019 patients with lung or head-and-neck cancer. We find that a large number of radiomic features have prognostic power in independent data sets of lung and head-and-neck cancer patients, many of which were not identified as significant before. Radiogenomics analysis reveals that a prognostic radiomic signature, capturing intratumour heterogeneity, is associated with underlying gene-expression patterns. These data suggest that radiomics identifies a general prognostic phenotype existing in both lung and head-and-neck cancer. This may have a clinical impact as imaging is routinely used in clinical practice, providing an unprecedented opportunity to improve decision-support in cancer treatment at low cost.