Radiomics to better characterize small renal masses

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Radiology
• Oncology

Background:

• Radiomics extracts quantitative features from medical images.
• It aims to improve diagnostic and prognostic accuracy beyond visual interpretation.
• Small renal masses (SRM) require accurate characterization for optimal patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review radiomic applications for characterizing small renal masses (SRM).
• To identify methods for differentiating benign from malignant renal masses, including subtypes.
• To explore radiomics' potential in predicting grade, aggressiveness, and guiding personalized treatment strategies.

Main Methods:

• A narrative review of English literature was conducted.
• PubMed-MEDLINE database was searched for articles up to September 20, 2020.
• 42 articles were analyzed focusing on radiomics for SRM prediction and characterization.

Main Results:

• Radiomics demonstrated superiority over expert radiological assessment in several studies.
• Key applications include differentiating benign vs. malignant SRMs and predicting tumor subtypes.
• Radiomics shows potential for predicting tumor grade and aggressiveness.

Conclusions:

• Radiomics offers a promising non-invasive approach to improve SRM diagnostic accuracy.
• Current evidence is mainly from retrospective studies, indicating low-quality evidence.
• Prospective validation studies are essential to integrate radiomics into clinical management algorithms for SRMs.