A Comprehensive Review of Radiomics in Pulmonary Nodule Management: Clinical Applications and Standardization...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Radiology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide.
• Pulmonary nodules are frequently detected, but most are benign, necessitating accurate differentiation.
• Distinguishing benign from malignant nodules is crucial for effective early detection and treatment, and to avoid unnecessary procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the existing literature on the application of radiomics in pulmonary nodule management.
• To discuss the potential of radiomics in improving the early detection and risk stratification of lung cancer.
• To identify current challenges and future directions for radiomics in precision oncology.

Main Methods:

• Extraction of high-dimensional quantitative features from medical images using radiomics.
• Analysis of radiomics data for predicting pulmonary nodule malignancy.
• Integration of radiomics with genomic data to identify lung cancer-associated mutations.
• Evaluation of therapeutic responses using radiomics.

Main Results:

• Radiomics enables a deeper understanding of tumor pathophysiology.
• The number of research papers on radiomics has significantly increased since 2012.
• Radiomics is currently used for noninvasive risk stratification and predicting malignancy of pulmonary nodules.

Conclusions:

• Radiomics shows significant promise for improving the management of pulmonary nodules.
• Further research and development are needed to overcome current challenges and optimize radiomics for precision oncology.
• Radiomics can enhance early lung cancer detection and personalize treatment strategies.