Radiomics for Everyone: A New Tool Simplifies Creating Parametric Maps for the Visualization and Quantification of Radiomics Features

Abstract

Aim was to develop a user-friendly method for creating parametric maps that would provide a comprehensible visualization and allow immediate quantification of radiomics features. For this, a self-explanatory graphical user interface was designed, and for the proof of concept, maps were created for CT and MR images and features were compared to those from conventional extractions. Especially first-order features were concordant between maps and conventional extractions, some even across all examples. Potential clinical applications were tested on CT and MR images for the differentiation of pulmonary lesions. In these sample applications, maps of Skewness enhanced the differentiation of non-malignant lesions and non-small lung carcinoma manifestations on CT images and maps of Variance enhanced the differentiation of pulmonary lymphoma manifestations and fungal infiltrates on MR images. This new and simple method for creating parametric maps makes radiomics features visually perceivable, allows direct feature quantification by placing a region of interest, can improve the assessment of radiological images and, furthermore, can increase the use of radiomics in clinical routine.

Enhancing the stability of CT radiomics across different volume of interest sizes using parametric feature maps: a phantom study

“…The software tool by Kim et al [ 25 ] that we applied dissembles an image into voxels of a fixed size. The feature is then calculated for each voxel, and the brightness of the voxel in the map reflects the feature quantity at the same position as in the original image [ 25 ]. Hence, we can quickly and directly retrieve the feature quantity from the map by drawing a region of interest or VOI.…”

“…Another aspect of the parametric maps compared to conventional extraction is that different anatomical structures can be contained in one voxel. This is one of the reasons why the results from the maps and a conventional extraction will not be the same, although some features show concordant results [ 25 ]. For clinical use, this would have to be taken into consideration when selecting the voxel size and should be evaluated in further studies.…”

“…Because the calculation of the parametric maps requires considerable computing power, the tool by Kim et al [ 25 ] was adapted to run on Google Colaboratory ( https://colab.research.google.com ). This significantly shortened the computation time and enabled execution in the background.…”

“…In 2021, Kim et al introduced their tool for creating parametric maps [ 25 ]. The basic principle is to calculate maps for the whole image by dividing it into voxels with a fixed size.…”

High-Resolution 3D versus Standard-Resolution 2D T2-Weighted Turbo Spin Echo MRI for the Assessment of Lumbar Nerve Root Compromise

“…Eighth, we did not perform a quantitative evaluation of nerve root compromise. We are, however, aware that quantitative evaluation methods may represent a promising method of further improving the diagnostic yield of a radiological examination [24][25][26]. Finally, patients were enrolled due to their clinical symptomatology after a comprehensive clinical examination.…”