Predicting nodal status in male breast cancer using mammogram based radiomic metrics

Abstract

Background: Axillary lymph node (ALN) status is one of the most important prognostic factors. Staging based on tumor size and nodal status are good predictors of survival. Accurate preoperative assessment of nodal status currently could be improved. All current imaging analysis depends on the operator observation of a lesion. Radiomics utilizes assigning a characteristic to each pixel in a tumor and captures data not seen by the naked eye. Patterns within a tumor that make nodal metastasis possible are recognized. Therefore, we wanted to know if radiomics of a tumor on mammography could predict nodal status. There is a suggestion this can be done in female breast cancer (FBC). We wanted to ask this question in male breast cancer (MBC) patients.