Imaging genomics of cancer: a bibliometric analysis and review

Imaging genomics is a burgeoning field that seeks to connections between medical imaging and genomic features. It has been widely applied to explore heterogeneity and predict responsiveness and disease progression in cancer. This review aims to assess current applications and advancements of imaging genomics in cancer.

Literature on imaging genomics in cancer was retrieved and selected from PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase before July 2024. Detail information of articles, such as systems and imaging features, were extracted and analyzed. Citation information was extracted from Web of Science and Scopus. Additionally, a bibliometric analysis of the included studies was conducted using the Bibliometrix R package and VOSviewer.

A total of 370 articles were included in the study. The annual growth rate of articles on imaging genomics in cancer is 24.88%. China (133) and the USA (107) were the most productive countries. The top 2 keywords plus were "survival" and "classification". The current research mainly focuses on the central nervous system (121) and the genitourinary system (110, including 44 breast cancer articles). Despite different systems utilizing different imaging modalities, more than half of the studies in each system employed radiomics features.

Publication databases provide data support for imaging genomics research. The development of artificial intelligence algorithms, especially in feature extraction and model construction, has significantly advanced this field. It is conducive to enhancing the related-models' interpretability. Nonetheless, challenges such as the sample size and the standardization of feature extraction and model construction must overcome. And the research trends revealed in this study will guide the development of imaging genomics in the future and contribute to more accurate cancer diagnosis and treatment in the clinic.