Nomogram Based on Ultrasonography and Clinical Features for Predicting Malignancy in Soft Tissue Tumors

The objective of this study was to establish a predictive nomogram based on ultrasound (US) and clinical features for patients with soft tissue tumors (STTs).

A total of 260 patients with STTs were enrolled in this retrospective study and were divided into a training cohort (n=200, including 110 malignant and 90 benign masses) and a validation cohort (n=60, including 30 malignant and 30 benign masses). Multivariate analysis was performed by binary logistic regression analysis to determine the significant factors predictive of malignancy. A simple nomogram was established based on these independent risk factors including US and clinical features. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability of the nomogram were measured by the calibration curve and the concordance index (C-index).

The nomogram, comprising US features (maximum diameter, margin and vascular density) and clinical features (sex, age, and duration of disease), showed a favorable performance for predicting malignancy, with a sensitivity of 88.2% and a specificity of 78.7%. The calibration curve for malignancy probability in the training cohort showed good agreement between the nomogram predictions and actual observations. The C-indexes of the training cohort and validation cohort for predicting malignancy were 0.89 (95% CI: 0.85-0.94) and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.73-0.94), respectively.

The nomogram based on US and clinical features could be a simple, intuitive and reliable tool to individually predict malignancy in patients with STTs.