Ovarian imaging radiomics quality score assessment: an EuSoMII radiomics auditing group initiative

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the methodological rigor of radiomics-based studies using noninvasive imaging in ovarian setting. METHODS: Multiple medical literature archives (PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus) were searched to retrieve original studies focused on computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound (US), or positron emission tomography (PET) radiomics for ovarian disorders’ assessment. Two researchers in consensus evaluated each investigation using the radiomics quality score (RQS). Subgroup analyses were performed to assess whether the total RQS varied according to first author category, study aim and topic, imaging modality, and journal quartile. RESULTS: From a total of 531 items, 63 investigations were finally included in the analysis. The studies were greatly focused (94%) on the field of oncology, with CT representing the most used imaging technique (41%). Overall, the papers achieved a median total RQS 6 (IQR, −0.5 to 11), corresponding to a percentage of 16.7% of the maximum score (IQR, 0–30.6%). The scoring was low especially due to the lack of prospective design and formal validation of the results. At subgroup analysis, the 4 studies not focused on oncological topic showed significantly lower quality scores than the others. CONCLUSIONS: The overall methodological rigor of radiomics studies in the ovarian field is still not ideal, limiting the reproducibility of results and potential translation to clinical setting. More efforts towards a standardized methodology in the workflow are needed to allow radiomics to become a viable tool for clinical decision-making. KEY POINTS: • The 63 included studies using noninvasive imaging for ovarian applications were mostly focused on oncologic topic (94%). • The included investigations achieved a median total RQS 6 (IQR, −0.5 to 11), indicating poor methodological rigor. • The RQS was low especially due to the lack of prospective design and formal validation of the results. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00330-022-09180-w.