Authors:	Müller, Lukas Kloeckner, Roman Mähringer-Kunz, Aline Stoehr, Fabian Düber, Christoph Arnhold, Gordon Gairing, Simon Johannes Foerster, Friedrich Weinmann, Arndt Galle, Peter Robert Mittler, Jens Pinto dos Santos, Daniel Hahn, Felix
Title:	Fully automated AI-based splenic segmentation for predicting survival and estimating the risk of hepatic decompensation in TACE patients with HCC
Online publication date:	20-Dec-2022
Year of first publication:	2022
Language:	english
Abstract:	Objectives Splenic volume (SV) was proposed as a relevant prognostic factor for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We trained a deep-learning algorithm to fully automatically assess SV based on computed tomography (CT) scans. Then, we investigated SV as a prognostic factor for patients with HCC undergoing transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Methods This retrospective study included 327 treatment-naïve patients with HCC undergoing initial TACE at our tertiary care center between 2010 and 2020. A convolutional neural network was trained and validated on the first 100 consecutive cases for spleen segmentation. Then, we used the algorithm to evaluate SV in all 327 patients. Subsequently, we evaluated correlations between SV and survival as well as the risk of hepatic decompensation during TACE. Results The algorithm showed Sørensen Dice Scores of 0.96 during both training and validation. In the remaining 227 patients assessed with the algorithm, spleen segmentation was visually approved in 223 patients (98.2%) and failed in four patients (1.8%), which required manual re-assessments. Mean SV was 551 ml. Survival was significantly lower in patients with high SV (10.9 months), compared to low SV (22.0 months, p = 0.001). In contrast, overall survival was not significantly predicted by axial and craniocaudal spleen diameter. Furthermore, patients with a hepatic decompensation after TACE had significantly higher SV (p < 0.001). Conclusion Automated SV assessments showed superior survival predictions in patients with HCC undergoing TACE compared to two-dimensional spleen size estimates and identified patients at risk of hepatic decompensation. Thus, SV could serve as an automatically available, currently underappreciated imaging biomarker.
DDC:	610 Medizin 610 Medical sciences
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 04 Medizin
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-8282
Version:	Published version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
License:	CC BY
Information on rights of use:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Journal:	European radiology 32
Pages or article number:	6302 6313
Publisher:	Springer
Publisher place:	Berlin u.a.
Issue date:	2022
ISSN:	1432-1084
Publisher DOI:	10.1007/s00330-022-08737-z
Appears in collections:	DFG-491381577-H