Combination of ¹⁸F-Fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT Radiomics and Clinical Features for Predicting Epidermal Growth Factor...

To identify epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in lung adenocarcinoma based on ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT radiomics and clinical features and to distinguish EGFR exon 19 deletion (19 del) and exon 21 L858R missense (21 L858R) mutations using FDG PET/CT radiomics.

We retrospectively analyzed 179 patients with lung adenocarcinoma. They were randomly assigned to training (n = 125) and testing (n = 54) cohorts in a 7:3 ratio. A total of 2632 radiomics features were extracted from the tumor region of interest from the PET (1316) and CT (1316) images. Six PET/CT radiomics features that remained after the feature selection step were used to calculate the radiomics model score (rad-score). Subsequently, a combined clinical and radiomics model was constructed based on sex, smoking history, tumor diameter, and rad-score. The performance of the combined model in identifying EGFR mutations was assessed using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Furthermore, in a subsample of 99 patients, a PET/CT radiomics model for distinguishing 19 del and 21 L858R EGFR mutational subtypes was established, and its performance was evaluated.

The area under the ROC curve (AUROC) and accuracy of the combined clinical and PET/CT radiomics models were 0.882 and 81.6%, respectively, in the training cohort and 0.837 and 74.1%, respectively, in the testing cohort. The AUROC and accuracy of the radiomics model for distinguishing between 19 del and 21 L858R EGFR mutational subtypes were 0.708 and 66.7%, respectively, in the training cohort and 0.652 and 56.7%, respectively, in the testing cohort.

The combined clinical and PET/CT radiomics model could identify the EGFR mutational status in lung adenocarcinoma with moderate accuracy. However, distinguishing between EGFR 19 del and 21 L858R mutational subtypes was more challenging using PET/CT radiomics.