Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) grade is very important for treatment strategy of PNETs. The present study aimed to find the quantitative radiomic features for predicting grades of PNETs in MR images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Totally 48 patients but 51 lesions with a pathological tumor grade were subdivided into low grade (G1) group and intermediate grade (G2) group. The ROI was manually segmented slice by slice in 3D-T1 weighted sequence with and without enhancement. Statistical differences of radiomic features between G1 and G2 groups were analyzed using the independent sample t-test. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to find better predictors in distinguishing G1 and G2 groups. Finally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was constructed to assess diagnostic performance of each model. RESULTS: No significant difference between G1 and G2 groups (P > 0.05) in non-enhanced 3D-T1 images was found. Significant differences in the arterial phase analysis between the G1 and the G2 groups appeared as follows: the maximum intensity feature (P = 0.021); the range feature (P = 0.039). Multiple logistic regression analysis based on univariable model showed the maximum intensity feature (P=0.023, OR = 0.621, 95% CI: 0.433-0.858) was an independent predictor of G1 compared with G2 group, and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.695. CONCLUSIONS: The maximum intensity feature of radiomic features in MR images can help to predict PNETs grade risk.