Shiteng Suo, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Zhi Guo Zhuang, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Mengqiu Cao, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Jianrong Xu, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To establish the utility of multislice-based texture analysis on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) in discrimination of pyogenic hepatic abscess and malignant mimickers. 

This retrospective study included 25 abscesses in 20 patients and 33 tumors in 26 patients who underwent CECT, and for further comparison, 19 hepatic simple cysts in 19 patients were also reviewed. Multislice-based texture analysis was assessed for CECT images using a Laplacian of Gaussian band-pass filter (5 filter levels with sigma weighting ranging from 1.0 to 2.5), with quantification of uniformity, entropy, kurtosis and skewness. Statistical significance for these parameters was tested by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD) test. Diagnostic performance was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis.

There were significant differences in entropy and uniformity at all sigma weightings (P < 0.001), and in kurtosis and skewness only at sigma 1.8 and 2.0 weightings (P = 0.002-0.006) when hepatic abscess, malignant mimickers and simple cysts were compared. Tukey HSD test showed that abscess had a significantly higher entropy and a significantly lower uniformity than malignant mimickers (P = 0.000-0.004). Entropy (at a sigma 2.0 weighting) had the largest area under the ROC curve of 0.888 in distinguishing abscess from malignant mimickers, with a sensitivity of 81.8% and a specificity of 88.0% using a threshold of 3.64.

Multislice-based texture analysis may be useful for differentiating pyogenic hepatic abscess and malignant mimickers. Entropy and uniformity are helpful to distinguish the two entities. Larger prospective studies with histopathological results are needed to further confirm the relationship between CECT texture features and disease microenvironment characteristics.

Multislice-based texture analysis quantifies the routinely acquired CECT data in clinical practice without additional imaging and may provide a potential tool to bridge radiologic data with intrinsic tissue characteristics.

Suo, S, Zhuang, Z, Cao, M, Xu, J, A Preliminary Study on Multislice-Based CECT Texture Analysis in Differential Diagnosis of Pyogenic Hepatic Abscess and Malignant Mimickers.  Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2014/14016164.html