Radiomics outcome prediction in Oropharyngeal cancer

There is an unmet need for integrating quantitative imaging biomarkers into current risk stratification tools and to explore the correlation between radiomics features –alone or in combination with clinical prognosticators- and tumor outcome. Clinical meta-data and matched baseline contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) scans were used to build a cohort of 495 oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients treated between 2005 and 2012. Expert radiation oncologists manually segmented primary and nodal disease gross volumes (GTVp & GTVn). Structures were named per the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) TG-263 recommendations, then retrieved in RT-STRUCT format. Matched patient, disease, treatment and outcomes data were obtained. Radiomics analysis was performed using an open-source institutionally-developed software that runs on Matlab platform.