18 F-FDG PET/CT Parameters Enhance MRI Radiomics for Predicting Human Papilloma Virus Status in Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Purpose: Predicting human papillomavirus (HPV) status is critical in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) radiomics. In this study, we developed a model for HPV status prediction using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radiomics and ¹⁸ F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( ¹⁸ F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) parameters in patients with OPSCC.
Materials and Methods: Patients with OPSCC who underwent ¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT and contrast-enhanced MRI before treatment between January 2012 and February 2020 were enrolled. Training and test sets (3:2) were randomly selected. ¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT parameters and MRI radiomics feature were extracted. We developed three light-gradient boosting machine prediction models using the training set: Model 1, MRI radiomics features; Model 2, ¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT parameters; and Model 3, combination of MRI radiomics features and ¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT parameters. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values were used to analyze the performance of the models in predicting HPV status in the test set.
Results: A total of 126 patients (118 male and 8 female; mean age: 60 years) were included. Of these, 103 patients (81.7%) were HPV-positive, and 23 patients (18.3%) were HPV-negative. AUROC values in the test set were 0.762 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.564-0.959], 0.638 (95% CI, 0.404-0.871), and 0.823 (95% CI, 0.668-0.978) for Models 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The net reclassification improvement of Model 3, compared with that of Model 1, in the test set was 0.119.
Conclusion: When combined with an MRI radiomics model, ¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT exhibits incremental value in predicting HPV status in patients with OPSCC.
Competing Interests: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.
(© Copyright: Yonsei University College of Medicine 2023.)