CardioRadNet: Cardiac mass diagnosis through integrated segmentation and radiomic analysis

Cardiac masses (CMs), though rare, include a wide spectrum of benign and malignant lesions that require distinct therapeutic strategies. Prior studies typically address narrow classification tasks (e.g., thrombus vs tumor) and rely on manually delineated regions. Building on these gaps, we introduce CardioRadNet: the first integrated framework combining deep learning segmentation and radiomics-based classification on contrast-free T1-weighted cardiac MR, designed to differentiate benign from malignant CMs.

A total of 127 patients with pathologically confirmed CMs (62 malignant, 65 benign) were included. A segmentation network incorporating point-based guidance was developed for mass delineation. Radiomic features were extracted from both manually and semiautomatically segmented volumes, and two separate radiomics-based classification models were developed accordingly. Feature selection and classifier performance were optimized using a 5-fold cross-validation.

The segmentation network achieved a Dice score of 0.78, with 88% of the radiomic features extracted from the semiautomatic ROIs showing good reproducibility (ICC > 0.6) when compared with those derived from manual ROIs. The two models achieved identical balanced accuracy (0.85) and the same number of misclassifications (both used 10 features). Notably, the semiautomated ROI model yielded one fewer false negative, thereby reducing missed malignant cases.

CardioRadNet offers a novel, accurate and contrast-free solution for comprehensive CM classification. Unlike prior studies, it includes the full spectrum of CMs and uses semiautomated segmentation for broader clinical applicability. Overall, this approach supports scalable integration into routine CMR workflows as a decision-support tool for early risk stratification and, in turn, improved patient management.