Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to assess the value of quantitative analysis of enhanced computed tomography (CT) values in the differential diagnosis of bladder cancer and cystitis glandularis (CG). METHODS: Eighty patients with bladder masses (39 with CG and 41 with bladder cancer) who underwent enhanced CT were retrospectively reviewed. The CT enhancement values of the lesion and normal bladder wall in the arterial phase, venous phase, and delayed phase were measured. The relative enhancement CT values (relative enhancement CT value = enhancement CT value of lesion - enhancement CT value of normal bladder) in the arterial phase, venous phase, and delayed phase were also calculated. The pathological results were used as the gold standard, and the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity were calculated for the six groups of quantitative indicators (enhanced CT values and relative enhanced CT values of CG and bladder cancer in the arterial, venous, and delayed phases). We performed the leave-group-out cross-validation method to validate the accuracy, AUC, sensitivity, and specificity. The differences in accuracy, AUC, sensitivity, and specificity among the six groups of quantitative indicators were compared by the t-test. RESULTS: In a combined analysis of the AUC, sensitivity, and specificity performance, the best indicator was the arterial-phase relative enhancement CT value with a cut-off of 25.85 HU (AUC, 0.966; sensitivity, 95.1%; specificity, 92.3%). We used the 100-times leave-group-out cross-validation method to validate the accuracy, AUC, sensitivity, and specificity. Arterial-phase relative enhancement CT values showed the highest AUC and accuracy among the six groups, with statistical significance (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Quantitative analysis of enhanced CT is of great clinical value in the differential diagnosis of CG and bladder cancer.