Beyond Bone Density Alone: Opportunistic Identification of Vertebral Compression Fractures in Breast Cancer Survivors
Chengxin Wan1, Lingquan Kong2, Jie Hao3
1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
Abstract:
Background/Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate whether artificial intelligence-derived vertebral volumetric bone mineral density (AI-vBMD) and paraspinal intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) ratio from routine computed tomography (CT) could identify moderate-to-severe vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) in breast cancer survivors, and whether paraspinal IMAT ratio and routinely available clinical variables improved diagnostic performance. Methods: This retrospective study included 275 women with breast cancer who underwent routine non-contrast CT and lumbar quantitative computed tomography (QCT). Hounsfield unit-derived volumetric bone mineral density (HU-vBMD) was derived using a QCT-referenced HU-to-vBMD conversion equation, whereas AI-vBMD and paraspinal IMAT ratio were extracted using automated software. Moderate-to-severe VCF was defined as Genant grade ≥ 2. Agreement with QCT-vBMD was assessed using correlation, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and Bland-Altman analysis. Model discrimination was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic analysis and DeLong tests. Results: Moderate-to-severe VCF was present in 75 patients (27.3%). HU-vBMD and AI-vBMD showed excellent agreement with QCT-vBMD (ICC, 0.978 and 0.987, respectively). AI-vBMD outperformed HU-vBMD for identifying VCFs (AUC, 0.738 vs. 0.714; p < 0.001). IMAT ratio showed comparable standalone discrimination to AI-vBMD (AUC, 0.760 vs. 0.738; p = 0.604). Adding IMAT ratio to AI-vBMD improved discrimination (AUC, 0.786 vs. 0.738; p = 0.038). The full model incorporating clinical covariates achieved the highest AUC (0.828; 95% CI, 0.778-0.878). Conclusions: AI-vBMD and paraspinal IMAT ratio automatically extracted from routine CT improved the diagnostic assessment of prevalent moderate-to-severe VCFs in breast cancer survivors. This study supports an automated CT-based approach that integrates vertebral bone density and paraspinal muscle-fat information for opportunistic identification of clinically relevant VCFs.