The Role of Radiomics in Salivary Gland Imaging: A Systematic Review and Radiomics Quality Assessment.
Giacomo AringhieriSalvatore Claudio FanniMaria FebiLeonardo ColligianiDania CioniEmanuele NeriPublished in: Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) (2022)
Background : Radiomics of salivary gland imaging can support clinical decisions in different clinical scenarios, such as tumors, radiation-induced xerostomia and sialadenitis. This review aims to evaluate the methodological quality of radiomics studies on salivary gland imaging. Material and Methods : A systematic search was performed, and the methodological quality was evaluated using the radiomics quality score (RQS). Subgroup analyses according to the first author's professional role (medical or not medical), journal type (radiological journal or other) and the year of publication (2021 or before) were performed. The correlation of RQS with the number of patients was calculated. Results : Twenty-three articles were included (mean RQS 11.34 ± 3.68). Most studies well-documented the imaging protocol (87%), while neither prospective validations nor cost-effectiveness analyses were performed. None of the included studies provided open-source data. A statistically significant difference in RQS according to the year of publication was found ( p = 0.009), with papers published in 2021 having slightly higher RQSs than older ones. No differences according to journal type or the first author's professional role were demonstrated. A moderate relationship between the overall RQS and the number of patients was found. Conclusions : Radiomics application in salivary gland imaging is increasing. Although its current clinical applicability can be affected by the somewhat inadequate quality of the papers, a significant improvement in radiomics methodologies has been demonstrated in the last year.
Keyphrases
- high resolution
- lymph node metastasis
- radiation induced
- end stage renal disease
- contrast enhanced
- ejection fraction
- newly diagnosed
- healthcare
- chronic kidney disease
- prognostic factors
- randomized controlled trial
- quality improvement
- radiation therapy
- clinical trial
- squamous cell carcinoma
- climate change
- magnetic resonance imaging
- fluorescence imaging
- case control
- mass spectrometry
- electronic health record
- study protocol
- photodynamic therapy