Automated prediction of the neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in osteosarcoma with deep learning and an MRI-based...

To implement a pipeline to automatically segment the ROI and to use a nomogram integrating the MRI-based radiomics score and clinical variables to predict responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in osteosarcoma patients.

A total of 144 osteosarcoma patients treated with NAC were separated into training (n = 101) and test (n = 43) groups. After normalisation, ROIs for the preoperative MRI were segmented by a deep learning segmentation model trained with nnU-Net by using two independent manual segmentations as labels. Radiomics features were extracted using automatically segmented ROIs. Feature selection was performed in the training dataset by five-fold cross-validation. The clinical, radiomics, and clinical-radiomics models were built using multiple machine learning methods with the same training dataset and validated with the same test dataset. The segmentation model was evaluated by the Dice coefficient. AUC and decision curve analysis (DCA) were employed to illustrate the model performance and clinical utility.

36/144 (25.0%) patients were pathological good responders (pGRs) to NAC, while 108/144 (75.0%) were non-pGRs. The segmentation model achieved a Dice coefficient of 0.869 on the test dataset. The clinical and radiomics models reached AUCs of 0.636 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.427-0.860 and 0.759 (95% CI, 0.589-0.937), respectively, in the test dataset. The clinical-radiomics nomogram demonstrated good discrimination, with an AUC of 0.793 (95% CI, 0.610-0.975), and accuracy of 79.1%. The DCA suggested the clinical utility of the nomogram.

The automatic nomogram could be applied to aid radiologists in identifying pGRs to NAC.

• The nnU-Net trained by manual labels enables the use of an automatic segmentation tool for ROI delineation of osteosarcoma. • A pipeline using automatic lesion segmentation and followed by a radiomics classifier could aid the evaluation of NAC response of osteosarcoma. • A predictive nomogram composed of clinical variables and MRI-based radiomics score provides support for individualised treatment planning.