Predicting Stroke Etiology with Radiomics: A Retrospective Study

Background/Objectives: The composition of the thrombus is not taken into account in the etiology determination of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS); however, it varies depending on the origin of the thrombus, as atherothrombotic thrombi contain more red blood cells and cardioembolic thrombi contain more fibrin and platelets. Radiomics has the potential to provide quantitative imaging data that may vary depending on the composition of thrombi. The aim of this study is to predict cardioembolic and atherothrombotic thrombi using radiomic features (RFs) from non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) brain scans. Methods: A total of 845 RFs were extracted from each of the 41 patients included in the study. A predictive model was used to classify patients as either cardioembolic or atherothrombotic, and the results were compared with the TOAST criteria-based classification. Results: Ten RFs (one shape feature and nine texture features) were found to demonstrate a statistically significant correlation with cardioembolic or atherothrombotic origins. The predictive radiomics model achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.842 and an accuracy of 0.902 (p < 0.001) in classifying stroke etiology. Conclusions: Radiomics based on NCCT can help to determine the etiology of AIS.