Purpose: This study aims to develop and validate a deep learning radiomics nomogram (DLRN) for prediction of axillary lymph node metastasis (ALNM) in breast cancer patients.
Materials and methods: We retrospectively enrolled 196 patients with non-specific invasive breast cancer confirmed by pathology, radiomics and deep learning features were extracted from unenhanced and biphasic (arterial and venous phase) contrast-enhanced CT, and the non-linear support vector machine was used to construct the radiomics signature and the deep learning signature, respectively. Next, a DLRN was developed with independent predictors and evaluated the performance of models in terms of discrimination and clinical utility.
Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the radiomics signature, deep learning signature, and clinical n stage were independent predictors. The DLRN accurately predicted ALNM and yielded an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.893 (95% confidence interval, 0.814-0.972) in the validation set, with good calibration. Decision curve analysis confirmed that the DLRN had higher clinical utility than other predictors.
Conclusions: The DLRN had good predictive value for ALNM in breast cancer patients and provide valuable information for individual treatment.
Keywords: Axillary lymph node metastasis; Breast cancer; Contrast-enhanced computed tomography; Deep learning; Machine learning; Radiomics.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to World Molecular Imaging Society.