Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

12-12-2024

Journal

Insights into Imaging

DOI

10.1186/s13244-024-01876-5

PMID

39666257

PMCID

PMC11638435

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

12-12-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Objectives: Radical prostatectomy (RP) is a common intervention in patients with localized prostate cancer (PCa), with nerve-sparing RP recommended to reduce adverse effects on patient quality of life. Accurate pre-operative detection of extraprostatic extension (EPE) remains challenging, often leading to the application of suboptimal treatment. The aim of this study was to enhance pre-operative EPE detection through multimodal data integration using explainable machine learning (ML).

Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed PCa who underwent [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI and subsequent RP were recruited retrospectively from two time ranges for training, cross-validation, and independent validation. The presence of EPE was measured from post-surgical histopathology and predicted using ML and pre-operative parameters, including PET/MRI-derived features, blood-based markers, histology-derived parameters, and demographic parameters. ML models were subsequently compared with conventional PET/MRI-based image readings.

Results: The study involved 107 patients, 59 (55%) of whom were affected by EPE according to postoperative findings for the initial training and cross-validation. The ML models demonstrated superior diagnostic performance over conventional PET/MRI image readings, with the explainable boosting machine model achieving an AUC of 0.88 (95% CI 0.87-0.89) during cross-validation and an AUC of 0.88 (95% CI 0.75-0.97) during independent validation. The ML approach integrating invasive features demonstrated better predictive capabilities for EPE compared to visual clinical read-outs (Cross-validation AUC 0.88 versus 0.71, p = 0.02).

Conclusion: ML based on routinely acquired clinical data can significantly improve the pre-operative detection of EPE in PCa patients, potentially enabling more accurate clinical staging and decision-making, thereby improving patient outcomes.

Critical relevance statement: This study demonstrates that integrating multimodal data with machine learning significantly improves the pre-operative detection of extraprostatic extension in prostate cancer patients, outperforming conventional imaging methods and potentially leading to more accurate clinical staging and better treatment decisions.

Key points: Extraprostatic extension is an important indicator guiding treatment approaches. Current assessment of extraprostatic extension is difficult and lacks accuracy. Machine learning improves detection of extraprostatic extension using PSMA-PET/MRI and histopathology.

Keywords

Prostate cancer, PSMA, PET/MRI, Machine learning, Extraprostatic extension

Published Open-Access

yes

13244_2024_1876_Figa_HTML.jpg (176 kB)
Graphical Abstract

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