CT Texture Analysis Potentially Predicts Local Failure in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated with Chemoradiotherapy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The accurate prediction of prognosis and failure is crucial for optimizing treatment strategies for patients with cancer. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of pretreatment CT texture analysis for the prediction of treatment failure in primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma treated with chemoradiotherapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 62 patients diagnosed with primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who underwent contrast-enhanced CT examinations for staging, followed by chemoradiotherapy. CT texture features of the whole primary tumor were measured using an in-house developed Matlab-based texture analysis program. Histogram, gray-level co-occurrence matrix, gray-level run-length, gray-level gradient matrix, and Laws features were used for texture feature extraction. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to identify the optimal threshold of any significant texture parameter. We used multivariate Cox proportional hazards models to examine the association between the CT texture parameter and local failure, adjusting for age, sex, smoking, primary tumor stage, primary tumor volume, and human papillomavirus status.

RESULTS: Twenty-two patients (35.5%) developed local failure, and the remaining 40 (64.5%) showed local control. Multivariate analysis revealed that 3 histogram features (geometric mean [hazard ratio = 4.68, P = .026], harmonic mean [hazard ratio = 8.61, P = .004], and fourth moment [hazard ratio = 4.56, P = .048]) and 4 gray-level run-length features (short-run emphasis [hazard ratio = 3.75, P = .044], gray-level nonuniformity [hazard ratio = 5.72, P = .004], run-length nonuniformity [hazard ratio = 4.15, P = .043], and short-run low gray-level emphasis [hazard ratio = 5.94, P = .035]) were significant predictors of outcome after adjusting for clinical variables.

CONCLUSIONS: Independent primary tumor CT texture analysis parameters are associated with local failure in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma treated with chemoradiotherapy.