Spectral CT for non-invasive evaluation of bladder cancer grade

To investigate the potential role of dual-energy spectral computer tomography (CT) quantitative parameters in the definition of bladder cancer (BCa) pathological grading.

This retrospective study evaluated the use of spectral CT imaging features for BCa. From 2021 to 2023, 63 patients with histologically-confirmed BCa diagnosis were examined at our Institution. The patients were pathologically divided, following international guidelines, into two groups: low-grade (n = 24) and high-grade urothelial carcinoma group (n = 39). The iodine concentrations (IC), the normalized iodine concentrations (NIC), and the slope of the spectrum curve (SLOPE) were calculated along with the measure of each lesion CT value on the monochromatic image from 40 to 120 keV. The diagnostic performance was assessed by Receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) analysis.

The high-grade group showed significantly higher mean values of IC, SLOPE, and HU in 40 KeV monoenergetic images (VMI₄₀ HU). AUC values for NIC, SLOPE, IC, and VMI₄₀ HU were 0,677, 0,745, 0,745, and 0,755 respectively. In multivariate logistic regression models with backward stepwise, including all quantitative parameters, only VMI₄₀ HU remained statistically significant to correlate with high-grade tumors.

Preliminary data shows that quantitative parameters of dual-energy spectral CT can be helpful to characterize low-grade and high-grade urothelial bladder tumors. The prediction of high-grade BCa with non-invasive methods (e.g. dlCT) can aid in early detection of muscle-invasive and worse prognostic tumors that need more aggressive and timely treatments, personalizing the management on the risk of recurrence.