A Clinical Radiomics Nomogram Was Developed by Integrating Radiomics Signatures and Clinical Variables to Distinguish High-Grade ccRCC from Type 2 pRCC

PURPOSE: A nomogram was constructed by combining clinical factors and a CT-based radiomics signature to discriminate between high-grade clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and type 2 papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC). METHODS: A total of 142 patients with 71 in high-grade ccRCC and seventy-one in type 2 pRCC were enrolled and split into a training cohort (n = 98) and a testing cohort (n = 44). A clinical factor model containing patient demographics and CT imaging characteristics was designed. By extracting the radiomics features from the precontrast phase, corticomedullary phase (CMP), and nephrographic phase (NP) CT images, a radiomics signature was established, and a Rad-score was computed. By combining the Rad-score and significant clinical factors using multivariate logistic regression analysis, a clinical radiomics nomogram was subsequently developed. The diagnostic performance of these three models was evaluated by using data from both the training and testing groups using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: The radiomics signature contained eight validated features from the CT images. The relative enhancement value of CMP (REV1) was an independent risk factor in the clinical factor model. The area under the curve (AUC) value of the clinical radiomics nomogram was 0.974 and 0.952 in the training and testing cohorts, respectively. In the training cohort, the decision curves of the nomogram demonstrated an added overall net advantage compared to the clinical factor model. CONCLUSION: A noninvasive prediction tool termed radiomics nomogram, combining clinical criteria and the radiomics signature, may accurately predict high-grade ccRCC and type 2 pRCC before surgery. It also has some importance in assisting clinicians in determining future treatment strategies.