Predictive quantitative ultrasound radiomic markers associated with treatment response in head and neck cancer

We aimed to identify quantitative ultrasound (QUS)-radiomic markers to predict radiotherapy response in metastatic lymph nodes of head and neck cancer.

Node-positive head and neck cancer patients underwent pretreatment QUS imaging of their metastatic lymph nodes. Imaging features were extracted using the QUS spectral form, and second-order texture parameters. Machine-learning classifiers were used for predictive modeling, which included a logistic regression, naive Bayes, and k-nearest neighbor classifiers.

There was a statistically significant difference in the pretreatment QUS-radiomic parameters between radiological complete responders versus partial responders (p < 0.05). The univariable model that demonstrated the greatest classification accuracy included: spectral intercept (SI)-contrast (area under the curve = 0.741). Multivariable models were also computed and showed that the SI-contrast + SI-homogeneity demonstrated an area under the curve = 0.870. The three-feature model demonstrated that the spectral slope-correlation + SI-contrast + SI-homogeneity-predicted response with accuracy of 87.5%.

Multivariable QUS-radiomic features of metastatic lymph nodes can predict treatment response a priori.