Radiomics and circulating tumor cells: personalized care in hepatocellular carcinoma?

Abstract

Personalized care in oncology is expected to significantly improve morbidity and mortality, facilitated by our increasing understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving tumors and the ability to target those drivers. Hepatocellular carcinoma has a very high mortality to incidence ratio despite localized disease being curable, emphasizing the importance of early diagnosis. Radiomics, the use of imaging technology to extrapolate molecular tumor data, and the detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are two new technologies that could be incorporated into the clinical setting with relative ease. Here we discuss the molecular mechanisms leading to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma focusing on the latest developments in liver magnetic resonance imaging, CTC, and radiomic technology and their potential to improve diagnosis, staging, and therapy.

Alternative Biomarkers to Predict Tumor Biology in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…Radiomics is an emerging field that is based on the conversion of images from exams such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging into high dimension data, which are analyzed by artificial intelligence to reveal hidden pathophysiological characteristics that, when added to the patient's characteristics, function as a prognostic or diagnostic tool (33). Regarding HCC, "omics" although at embryonic stage, it has presented promising results (34). Zhout et al published a study with 215 patients to predict early recurrence of HCC based on the radiomic characteristics of the patients and obtained a predictive AUC of 0.83 in a combined model, showing that the Radiomics signature may be promising in predicting early recurrence (35).…”

History and Evolution of Yttrium-90 Radioembolization for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary liver cancer. Every year, there are approximately 700,000 new cases and 600,000 deaths attributable to HCC worldwide [1,2,3]. According to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer guidelines, patients with very early or early stage disease are eligible for curative therapies including surgical resection or liver transplant (Figure 1).…”

Discovery and Validation of a CT‐Based Radiomic Signature for Preoperative Prediction of Early Recurrence in Hypopharyngeal Carcinoma

“…Clinicians can determine the tumor's progress, metastasis, and location of the focus by evaluating the image [ 9 ]. Radiology is a mathematical description of image content that can compensate for some measures that lack strict and accurate standards [ 10 ]. Although the image texture analysis from conventional imaging techniques such as CT, MRI, and PET remains in the early stage, it has achieved favorable outcomes in the diagnosis and evaluation, as well as prediction in various types of cancer [ 11 ].…”