Ultrasound-based radiomics analysis for preoperative prediction of central and lateral cervical lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma: a multi-institutional study

Table 1 Associations between the central CLN status and clinical parameters in the training and validation cohorts

Characteristic	Training cohort (n = 300)			Validation cohort 1 (n = 143)
Characteristic	CLNM + (n = 104)	CLNM—(n = 196)	p	CLNM + (n = 47)	CLNM—(n = 96)	p
Age (years)			< 0.001			0.038
Mean ± SD	38.9 ± 10.6	45.3 ± 11.4		39.0 ± 11.4	43.6 ± 12.6
Age (years)			< 0.001			0.011
> 45	28 (26.9)	94 (48.0)		13 (27.7)	48 (50.0)
≤ 45	76 (73.1)	102 (52.0)		34 (72.3)	48 (50.0)
Gender (%)			0.623			0.157
Male	32 (30.8)	55 (28.1)		16 (34.0)	22 (22.9)
Female	72 (69.2)	141 (71.9)		31 (66.0)	74 (77.1)
TSH (%)			0.487			0.975
Normal	93 (89.4)	180 (91.8)		44 (93.6)	90 (93.8)
Abnormal	11 (10.6)	16 (8.2)		3 (6.4)	6 (6.3)
TG (%)			0.143			0.482
Normal	92 (88.5)	183 (93.4)		45 (95.7)	89 (92.7)
Abnormal	12 (11.5)	13 (6.6)		2 (4.3)	7 (7.2)
TGAB (%)			0.518			0.111
Normal	64 (61.5)	128 (65.3)		27 (57.4)	68 (70.8)
Abnormal	40 (38.5)	68 (34.7)		20 (42.6)	28 (29.2)
TPOAB (%)			0.091			0.102
Normal	69 (66.3)	148 (75.5)		42 (89.4)	75 (78.1)
Abnormal	35 (33.7)	48 (24.5)		5 (10.6)	21 (21.9)
Tumor size (mm)			< 0.001			< 0.001
Mean ± SD	13.4 ± 8.1	9.2 ± 5.9		13.9 ± 10.1	9.0 ± 7.6
Tumor size (mm)			< 0.001			< 0.001
≥ 1	64 (61.5)	53 (27.0)		29 (61.7)	15 (15.6)
< 1	40 (38.5)	143 (73.0)		18 (38.3)	81 (84.4)
US-reported central CLN status (%)			< 0.001			< 0.001
Negative	52 (50.0)	177 (90.3)		24 (51.1)	87 (90.6)
positive	52 (50.0)	19 (9.7)		23 (48.9)	9 (9.4)
Radiomics score Median	− 0.2873	− 0.4266	< 0.001	− 0.2631	− 0.4063	< 0.001
(Interquartile range)	(− 0.4481, − 0.1983)	(− 0.5547, − 0.3014)		(− 0.4026, − 0.1533)	(− 0.5130, − 0.2765)

Characteristic	Validation cohort 2 (n = 144)			Validation cohort 3 (n = 133)
Characteristic	CLNM + (n = 70)	CLNM—(n = 74)	p	CLNM + (n = 42)	CLNM—(n = 91)	p
Age (years)			0.017			0.014
Mean ± SD	37.3 ± 10.9	41.9 ± 11.9		36.7 ± 12.1	45.2 ± 11.8
Age (years)			0.052			0.018
> 45	22 (31.4)	35 (47.3)		12 (28.6)	46 (50.5)
≤ 45	48 (68.6)	39 (52.7)		30 (71.4)	45 (49.5)
Gender (%)			0.336			0.897
Male	20 (28.6)	16 (21.6)		12 (28.6)	27 (29.7)
Female	50 (71.4)	58 (78.4)		30 (71.4)	64 (70.3)
TSH (%)			0.920			0.551
Normal	64 (91.4)	68 (91.9)		38 (90.5)	85 (93.4)
Abnormal	6 (8.6)	6 (8.1)		4 (9.5)	6 (6.6)
TG (%)			0.095			0.335
Normal	44 (62.9)	56 (75.7)		27 (64.3)	66 (72.5)
Abnormal	26 (37.1)	18 (24.3)		15 (35.7)	25 (27.5)
TGAB (%)			0.143			0.596
Normal	40 (57.1)	51 (68.9)		32 (76.2)	73 (80.2)
Abnormal	30 (42.9)	23 (31.1)		10 (23.8)	18 (19.8)
TPOAB (%)			0.341			0.863
Normal	48 (68.6)	56 (75.7)		36 (85.7)	79 (86.8)
Abnormal	22 (31.4)	18 (24.3)		6 (14.3)	12 (13.2)
Tumor size (mm)			< 0.001			< 0.001
Mean ± SD	14.9 ± 7.1	8.3 ± 7.0		14.0 ± 11.2	8.3 ± 7.9
Tumor size (mm)			< 0.001			0.001
≥ 1	41 (58.6)	20 (27.0)		33 (78.6)	20 (22.0)
< 1	29 (41.4)	54 (73.0)		9 (21.4)	71 (78.0)
US-reported central CLN status (%)			< 0.001			< 0.001
Negative	38 (54.3)	68 (91.9)		20 (47.6)	78 (85.7)
Positive	32 (45.7)	6 (8.1)		22 (52.4)	13 (14.3)
Radiomics score			< 0.001			< 0.001
Median	− 0.2431	− 0.4058		− 0.2695	− 0.4438
(Interquartile range)	(− 0.3553, − 0.1270)	(− 0.5119, − 0.3104)		(− 0.3652, − 0.1542)	(− 0.5602, − 0.3217)

CLN, cervical lymph node; CLNM, cervical lymph metastasis; TG, thyroglobulin; TGAB, thyroglobulin antibody; TPOAB, thyroid peroxidase antibody; TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone; LNM, lymph node metastasis; SD, standard deviation; US, ultrasound. Significant differences are highlighted in boldface

ISSN: 1471-2342