CT Texture Analysis—Correlations With Histopathology Parameters in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas

Introduction: Texture analysis is an emergent imaging technique to quantify heterogeneity in radiological images. It is still unclear whether this technique is capable to reflect tumor microstructure. The present study sought to correlate histopathology parameters with texture features derived from contrast-enhanced CT images in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight patients with histopathological proven HNSCC were retrospectively analyzed. In every case EGFR, VEGF, Hif1-alpha, Ki67, p53 expression derived from immunhistochemical specimen were semiautomatically calculated. Furthermore, mean cell count was estimated. Texture analysis was performed on contrast-enhanced CT images as a whole lesion measurement. Spearman's correlation analysis was performed, adjusted with Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple tests. Results: Several texture features correlated with histopathological parameters. After correction only CT texture joint entropy and CT entropy correlation with Hif1-alpha expression remained statistically significant (ρ = −0.60 and ρ = −0.50, respectively). Conclusions: CT texture joint entropy and CT entropy were associated with Hif1-alpha expression in HNSCC and might be able to reflect hypoxic areas in this entity.