Radiomics in RayPlus: a Web-Based Tool for Texture Analysis in Medical Images

Radiomics has been shown to have considerable potential and value in quantifying the tumor phenotype and predicting the treatment response. In most scenarios, the commercial and open-source software programs are available for quantitative analysis in medical images to streamline radiomics research. However, at this stage, most of these programs are local applications and require users to have experience in programming and software engineering, which clinicians usually do not have. Therefore, in this article, a web-based tool was proposed to flexibly support radiomics research workflow tasks. Radiomics in RayPlus requires zero installation, is easy to maintain, and accessible anywhere via any PC or MAC with an Internet connection. The system provides functions including multimodality image import and viewing, ROI definition, feature extraction, and data sharing. As a web application, it appears an effective way to multi-institution and multi-department collaborative radiomics research and moreover, its transparency, flexibility, and portability can greatly accelerate the pace of clinical data analysis.