Abstract
BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether any texture features show a correlation with intrahepatic tumor growth before the metastasis is visible to the human eye.MethodsEight male C57BL6 mice (age 8–10 weeks) were injected intraportally with syngeneic MC-38 colon cancer cells and two mice were injected with phosphate-buffered saline (sham controls). Small animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 4.7 T was performed at baseline and days 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 after injection applying a T2-weighted spin-echo sequence. Texture analysis was performed on the images yielding 32 texture features derived from histogram, gray-level co-occurrence matrix, gray-level run-length matrix, and gray-level size-zone matrix. The features were examined with a linear regression model/Pearson correlation test and hierarchical cluster analysis. From each cluster, the feature with the lowest variance was selected.ResultsTumors were visible on MRI after 20 days. Eighteen features from histogram and the gray-level-matrices exhibited statistically significant correlations before day 20 in the experiment group, but not in the control animals. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct clusters of independent features. The features with the lowest variance were Energy, Short Run Emphasis, and Gray Level Non-Uniformity.ConclusionsTexture features may quantitatively detect liver metastases before they become visually detectable by the radiologist.
Highlights
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether any texture features show a correlation with intrahepatic tumor growth before the metastasis is visible to the human eye
Presence of tumor cells in the liver parenchyma was confirmed histologically after eight days in two mice, which were sacrificed for this purpose (Fig. 3)
Morphological evaluation On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the mice exhibited a median of four metastases on day 20
Summary
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether any texture features show a correlation with intrahepatic tumor growth before the metastasis is visible to the human eye. The liver is the primary site of distant hematogenous metastases for cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Secondary tumors of the liver, are still a devastating disease and herald poor prognosis. Interventional as well as surgical techniques for treating liver metastases have made tremendous advances in the last few years [4,5,6]. If a curative approach is chosen, preoperative imaging is essential to correctly identify all tumor lesions and avoid leaving behind small tumor nodules in the future liver remnant. In postoperative settings, early and correct diagnosis of recurrent tumor lesions is essential for timely treatment decisions such as salvage chemotherapy or repeat surgery. Today, in most cancer centers, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the liver is an integral part
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