Prediction of minimal hepatic encephalopathy by using an radiomics nomogram in chronic hepatic schistosomiasis patients

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2021 Oct 15;15(10):e0009834. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009834. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: To construct an MR-radiomics nomogram to predict minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) in patients with chronic hepatic schistosomiasis (CHS).

Methods: From July 2017 to July 2020, 236 CHS patients with non-HE (n = 140) and MHE (n = 96) were retrospective collected and randomly divided into training group and testing group. Radiomics features were extracted from substantia nigra-striatum system of a brain diffusion weighted images (DWI) and combined with clinical predictors to build a radiomics nomogram for predicting MHE in CHS patients. The ROC curve was used to evaluate the predicting performance in training group and testing group. The clinical decisive curve (CDC) was used to assess the clinical net benefit of using radiomics nomogram in predicting MHE.

Results: Low seralbumin (P < 0.05), low platelet count (P < 0.05) and high plasma ammonia (P < 0.05) was the significant clinical predictors for MHE in CHS patients. The AUC, specificity and sensitivity of the radiomics nomogram were 0.89, 0.90 and 0.86 in the training group, and were 0.83, 0.85 and 0.75 in the training group. The CDC analysis showed clinical net benefits for the radiomics nomogram in predicting MHE.

Conclusions: The radiomics nomogram combining DWI radiomics features and clinical predictors could be useful tool to predict MHE in CHS patients.

Publication types

  • Clinical Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Ammonia / blood
  • Female
  • Hepatic Encephalopathy / blood
  • Hepatic Encephalopathy / diagnosis
  • Hepatic Encephalopathy / diagnostic imaging*
  • Hepatic Encephalopathy / etiology
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nomograms
  • Platelet Count
  • ROC Curve
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Schistosomiasis / blood
  • Schistosomiasis / complications*
  • Schistosomiasis / diagnostic imaging

Substances

  • Ammonia

Grants and funding

YL received funding from Jinshan Science and Technology Committee (No. 2021-3-01). JWQ received funding from Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (No. ZK2019B01). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.