Development and validation of an AI-driven radiomics model using non-enhanced CT for automated severity grading in chronic pancreatitis
摘要
To develop and validate the chronic pancreatitis CT severity model (CATS), an artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool leveraging automated 3D segmentation and radiomics analysis of non-enhanced CT scans for objective severity stratification in chronic pancreatitis (CP).
Materials and methodsThis retrospective study encompassed patients with recurrent acute pancreatitis (RAP) and CP from June 2016 to May 2020. A 3D convolutional neural network segmented non-enhanced CT scans, extracting 1843 radiomic features to calculate the radiomics score (Rad-score). The CATS was formulated using multivariable logistic regression and validated in a subsequent cohort from June 2020 to April 2023.
ResultsOverall, 2054 patients with RAP and CP were included in the training (n = 927), validation set (n = 616), and external test (n = 511) sets. CP grade I and II patients accounted for 300 (14.61%) and 1754 (85.39%), respectively. The Rad-score significantly correlated with the acinus-to-stroma ratio (p = 0.023; OR, −2.44). The CATS model demonstrated high discriminatory performance in differentiating CP severity grades, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.96 (95% CI: 0.94–0.98) and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.81–0.90) in the validation and test cohorts. CATS-predicted grades correlated with exocrine insufficiency (all p < 0.05) and showed significant prognostic differences (all p < 0.05). CATS outperformed radiologists in detecting calcifications, identifying all minute calcifications missed by radiologists.
ConclusionThe CATS, developed using non-enhanced CT and AI, accurately predicts CP severity, reflects disease morphology, and forecasts short- to medium-term prognosis, offering a significant advancement in CP management.
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