Abstract PO3-07-02: Radiomics Models for B-mode Breast Ultrasound and Strain Elastography to improve Breast Cancer Diagnosis (INSPiRED 005): An International, Multicenter Analysis
Authors: Pfob André , He Tanja , Cai Lie , Barr Richard G. , Duda Volker , Alwafai Zaher , Balleyguier Corinne , Clevert Dirk-André , Fastner Sarah , Gomez Christina , Goncalo Manuela , Gruber Ines , Hahn Markus , Hennigs André , Kapetas Panagiotis , Lu Sheng-Chieh , Nees Juliane , Ohlinger Ralf , Riedel Fabian , Rutten Matthieu , Schaefgen Benedikt , Stieber Anne , Togawa Riku , Tozaki Mitsuhiro , Wojcinski Sebastian , Xu Cai , Rauch Geraldine , Heil Jörg , Sidey-Gibbons Chris , Golatta Michael 
Published: May 2024

Background: Breast Elastography, a technique that quantifies tissue stiffness, has been evaluated to objectify and improve the performance of B-mode breast ultrasound. However, large prospective trials showed benefits in BI-RADS 4a breast masses only and a high operator dependency. Modern Artificial Intelligence techniques for automated image processing like radiomics, a technique where quantified features are extracted from images, may overcome these limitations. We aimed to develop and validate radiomics models based on B-mode and Strain Elastography (SE) images for patients with BI-RADS 3 or 4 breast masses and compare their performance to the respective human experts. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of an international, multicenter trial (NCT02638935), evaluating the performance of SE in women with BI-RADS 3 or 4 breast masses. Women were recruited at 12 institutions in 7 countries and underwent B-mode breast ultrasound as well as SE. B-mode images were saved and re-assed by three ultrasound readers ( &gt;10 years of experience), resulting in three independent assessments and a final consensus assessment. SE was interpreted using the E-/B ratio. B-mode and strain images were manually segmented and quantitative radiomics features were extracted using pyradiomics. We used 10-fold cross-validation to build machine learning models (XGBoostTree, MARS) based on data of 11 of 12 study sites. The data of the 12th (largest) study site was used as external validation set. Performance metrics included sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC). Results: The study included a total of 1288 patients, 1206 with evaluable B-mode images and 1190 with evaluable Strain images. Mean age was 46.6 years (SD 16.02) and a total number of 29.0% (350 of 1206) and 28.9% (344 of 1190) breast masses were malignant in the B-mode and Strain cohort, respectively. Distribution of BI-RADS categories was 33.0%, 34.5%, 14.5%, and 18.0% for BI-RADS 3, 4a, 4b, and 4c, respectively. In the external validation set (n = 342), the B-mode radiomics model (XGBoostTree) achieved an AUROC of 0.86 (95% CI 0.82 to 0.90), with a sensitivity of 97.4% (95% CI 0.93 to 1.00, 113 of 116) and a specificity of 27.0% (95% CI 0.21 to 0.33, 61 of 226). The model showed equivalent performance compared to the three ultrasound readers (P = 0.133); see also Table 1. In the external validation set (n = 333), the Strain radiomics model (MARS) achieved an AUROC of 0.84 (95% CI 0.79 to 0.88), with a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI 47.0 to 58.0, 115 of 115) and a specificity of 25.5% (95% CI 0.22 to 0.34, 60 of 218). The model showed equivalent performance compared to the three ultrasound readers (P = 0.696) and performed significantly better compared to SE (P = 0.002); see also Table 1. Sensitivity of the strain model was descriptively higher (100% vs. 97.4%, see Table 1). Both models were well-calibrated. Conclusion: This is the largest development and validation study for radiomics models based on B-mode breast ultrasound and SE, to date. The radiomics models performed on par with human readers, with the strain radiomics model showing potential to identify initially missed carcinomas in BI-RADS 3 breast masses. Future implementation studies may evaluate the performance of these image analysis algorithms in clinical routine and their integration into the multi-modal breast cancer diagnostics process, including mammography and MRI.

Table 1. Diagnostic performance metrics

Citation Format: André Pfob, Tanja He, Lie Cai, Richard G. Barr, Volker Duda, Zaher Alwafai, Corinne Balleyguier, Dirk-André Clevert, Sarah Fastner, Christina Gomez, Manuela Goncalo, Ines Gruber, Markus Hahn, André Hennigs, Panagiotis Kapetas, Sheng-Chieh Lu, Juliane Nees, Ralf Ohlinger, Fabian Riedel, Matthieu Rutten, Benedikt Schaefgen, Anne Stieber, Riku Togawa, Mitsuhiro Tozaki, Sebastian Wojcinski, Cai Xu, Geraldine Rauch, Jörg Heil, Chris Sidey-Gibbons, Michael Golatta. Radiomics Models for B-mode Breast Ultrasound and Strain Elastography to improve Breast Cancer Diagnosis (INSPiRED 005): An International, Multicenter Analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO3-07-02.