A multicenter study on radiomic features from T_2-weighted images of a customized MR pelvic phantom setting the basis for robust radiomic models in clinics
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In this study we investigated the repeatability and reproducibility of radiomic features extracted from MRI images and provide a workflow to identify robust features. 2D and 3D T_2-weighted images of a pelvic phantom were acquired on three scanners of two manufacturers and two magnetic field strengths. The repeatability and reproducibility of the radiomic features were assessed respectively by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), considering repeated acquisitions with or without phantom repositioning, and with different scanner/acquisition type, and acquisition parameters. The features showing ICC/CCC > 0.9 were selected, and their dependence on shape information (Spearman's ρ> 0.8) was analyzed. They were classified for their ability to distinguish textures, after shuffling voxel intensities. From 944 2D features, 79.9 excellent repeatability in fixed position across all scanners. Much lower range (11.2 not improve repeatability performance. Excellent reproducibility between scanners was observed in 4.6 parameters. 82.4 extracted from images acquired with TEs 5 ms apart (values decreased when increasing TE intervals) and 90.7 reproducibility for changes in TR. 2.0 as providing only shape information. This study demonstrates that radiomic features are affected by specific MRI protocols. The use of our radiomic pelvic phantom allowed to identify unreliable features for radiomic analysis on T_2-weighted images. This paper proposes a general workflow to identify repeatable, reproducible, and informative radiomic features, fundamental to ensure robustness of clinical studies.
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