Ultrasound-based radiomics: current status, challenges and future opportunities.

Abstract

Ultrasound (US) imaging is part of conventional medical imaging in clinical practice that is low-cost, non-ionizing, portableand capable of real-time image acquisition and display. However, in certain cases, US has limited sensitivity and specificityin differentiating between malignant and benign lesions. Ultrasound-based radiomics, as a new branch of radiomics, canprovide additional features such as heterogeneity of lesions that are invisible to the naked eye, alone or in combination withdemographic, histological, genomic or proteomic data, thereby improving the accuracy of US in diagnosis of disease. Thisarticle provides an introduction to ultrasound-based radiomics, covering its workflow, the application of machine learning, andcurrent research status. Current limitations of radiomics, such as consistency of image acquisition, parameter variations, anddifficulty in calibrating quantitative methods in ultrasound, will also be covered.