Radiomics model based on dual-energy CT can determine the source of thrombus in strokes with middle cerebral artery occlusion

To develop thrombus radiomics models based on dual-energy CT (DECT) for predicting etiologic cause of stroke.

We retrospectively enrolled patients with occlusion of the middle cerebral artery who underwent computed tomography (NCCT) and DECT angiography (DECTA). 70 keV virtual monoenergetic images (simulate conventional 120kVp CTA images) and iodine overlay maps (IOM) were reconstructed for analysis. Five logistic regression radiomics models for predicting cardioembolism (CE) were built based on the features extracted from NCCT, CTA and IOM images. From these, the best one was selected to integrate with clinical information for further construction of the combined model. The performance of the different models was evaluated and compared using ROC curve analysis, clinical decision curves (DCA), calibration curves and Delong test.

Among all the radiomic models, model _NCCT+IOM performed the best, with AUC = 0.95 significantly higher than model _NCCT, model _CTA, model _IOM and model _NCCT+CTA in the training set (AUC = 0.88, 0.78, 0.90,0.87, respectively, P < 0.05), and AUC = 0.92 in the testing set, significantly higher than model _CTA (AUC = 0.71, P < 0.05). Smoking and NIHSS score were independent predictors of CE (P < 0.05). The combined model performed similarly to the model _NCCT+IOM, with no statistically significant difference in AUC either in the training or test sets. (0.96 vs. 0.95; 0.94 vs. 0.92, both P > 0.05).

Radiomics models constructed based on NCCT and IOM images can effectively determine the source of thrombus in stroke without relying on clinical information.