Deep transfer learning radiomics model based on temporal bone CT for assisting in the diagnosis of inner ear malformations

Abstract

Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of traditional radiomics, deep learning, and deep learning radiomics in differentiating normal and inner ear malformations on temporal bone computed tomography（CT）. Methods:A total of 572 temporal bone CT data were retrospectively collected, including 201 cases of inner ear malformation and 371 cases of normal inner ear, and randomly divided into a training cohort（n=458） and a test cohort（n=114） in a ratio of 4∶1. Deep transfer learning features and radiomics features were extracted from the CT images and feature fusion was performed to establish the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator. The CT results interpretated by two chief otologists from the National Clinical Research Center for Otorhinolaryngological Diseases served as the gold standard for diagnosis. The model performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic（ROC）, and the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and other indicators of the models were calculated. The predictive power of each model was compared using the Delong test. Results:1 179 radiomics features were obtained from traditional radiomics, 2 048 deep learning features were obtained from deep learning, and 137 features fusion were obtained after feature screening and fusion of the two. The area under the curve（AUC） of the deep learning radiomics model on the test cohort was 0.964 0（95%CI 0.931 4-0.996 8）, with an accuracy of 0.922, sensitivity of 0.881, and specificity of 0.945. The AUC of the radiomics features alone on the test cohort was 0.929 0（95%CI 0.882 2-0.974 9）, with an accuracy of 0.878, sensitivity of 0.881, and specificity of 0.877. The AUC of the deep learning features alone on the test cohort was 0.947 0（95%CI 0.898 2-0.994 8）, with an accuracy of 0.913, sensitivity of 0.810, and specificity of 0.973. The results indicated that the prediction accuracy and AUC of the deep learning radiomics model are the highest. The Delong test showed that the differences between any two models did not reach statistical significance. Conclusion:The feature fusion model can be used for the differential diagnosis of normal and inner ear malformations, and its diagnostic performance is superior to radiomics or deep learning models alone.