Radiomic model based on magnetic resonance imaging for predicting pathological complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients

Abstract

Purpose: To establish a model combining radiomic and clinicopathological factors based on magnetic resonance imaging to predict pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.

Method: MRI images and clinicopathologic data of 329 eligible breast cancer patients from the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from August 2018 to August 2022 were included in this study. All patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), and imaging examinations were performed before and after NAC. A total of 329 patients were randomly allocated to a training set and a test set at a ratio of 7:3. We mainly studied the following three types of prediction models: radiomic models, clinical models, and clinical-radiomic models. All models were evaluated using subject operating characteristic curve analysis and area under the curve (AUC), decision curve analysis (DCA) and calibration curves.

Results: The AUCs of the clinical prediction model, independent imaging model and clinical combined imaging model in the training set were 0.864 0.968 and 0.984, and those in the test set were 0.724, 0.754 and 0.877, respectively. According to DCA and calibration curves, the clinical-radiomic model showed good predictive performance in both the training set and the test set, and we found that we had developed a more concise clinical-radiomic nomogram.

Conclusion: We have developed a clinical-radiomic model by integrating radiomic features and clinical factors to predict pCR after NAC in breast cancer patients, thereby contributing to the personalized treatment of patients.

Keywords: MRI; breast cancer; neoadjuvant chemotherapy; pathological complete response; radiomics.