J Korean Soc Radiol.  2022 Jan;83(1):112-126. 10.3348/jksr.2021.0037.

Tumor Margin Infiltration in Soft Tissue Sarcomas: Prediction Using 3T MRI Texture Analysis

• Kim M
• Jee WH
• Lee Y
• Hong, JH
• Jung CK
• Chung YG
• Lee SY

• KMID: 2525177
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3348/jksr.2021.0037

Abstract

Purpose
To determine the value of 3 Tesla (T) MRI texture analysis for predicting tumor margin infiltration in soft tissue sarcomas.
Materials and Methods
Thirty-one patients who underwent 3T MRI and had a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of soft tissue sarcoma were included in this study. Margin infiltration on pathology was used as the gold standard. Texture analysis of soft tissue sarcomas was performed on axial T1-weighted images (WI) and T2WI, fat-suppressed contrast-enhanced (CE) T1WI, diffusion-weighted images (DWI) with b-value of 800 s/mm², and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was mapped. Quantitative parameters were compared between sarcomas with infiltrative margins and those with circumscribed margins.
Results
Among the 31 patients with soft tissue sarcomas, 23 showed tumor margin infiltration on pathology. There were significant differences in kurtosis with the spatial scaling factor (SSF) of 0 and 6 on T1WI, kurtosis (SSF, 0) on CE-T1WI, skewness (SSF, 0) on DWI, and skewness (SSF, 2, 4) on ADC between sarcomas with infiltrative margins and those with circumscribed margins (p ≤ 0.046). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve based on MR texture features for identification of infiltrative tumor margins was 0.951 (p < 0.001).
Conclusion
MR texture analysis is reliable and accurate for the prediction of infiltrative margins of soft tissue sarcomas.

Keyword

Sarcoma; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Computer; Software; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging