Prediction of soft tissue sarcoma grading using intratumoral habitats and a peritumoral radiomics nomogram: a multi-center preliminary study

Background Accurate identification of pathologic grade before operation is helpful for guiding clinical treatment decisions and improving the prognosis for soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Purpose To construct and assess a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based radiomics nomogram incorporating intratumoral habitats (subregions of clusters of voxels containing similar features) and peritumoral features for the preoperative prediction of the pathological grade of STS. Methods The MRI data of 145 patients with STS (74 low-grade and 71 high-grade) from 4 hospitals were retrospectively collected, including enhanced T1-weighted and fat-suppressed-T2-weighted sequences. The patients were divided into training cohort (n = 102) and validation cohort (n = 43). K-means clustering was used to divide intratumoral voxels into three habitats according to signal intensity. A number of radiomics features were extracted from tumor-related regions to construct radiomics prediction signatures for seven subgroups. Logistic regression analysis identified peritumoral edema as an independent risk factor. A nomogram was created by merging the best radiomics signature with the peritumoral edema. We evaluated the performance and clinical value of the model using area under the curve (AUC), calibration curves, and decision curve analysis. Results A multi-layer perceptron classifier model based on intratumoral habitats and peritumoral features combined gave the best radiomics signature, with an AUC of 0.856 for the validation cohort. The AUC of the nomogram in the validation cohort was 0.868, which was superior to the radiomics signature and the clinical model established by peritumoral edema. The calibration curves and decision curve analyses revealed good calibration and a high clinical application value for this nomogram. Conclusion The MRI-based nomogram is accurate and effective for predicting preoperative grading in patients with STS.