Quantitative ultrasound radiomics analysis to evaluate lymph nodes in patients with cancer: a systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review aims to evaluate the role of ultrasound (US) radiomics in assessing lymphadenopathy in patients with cancer and the ability of radiomics to predict metastatic lymph node involvement. A systematic literature search was performed in the PubMed (MEDLINE), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and EMBASE (Ovid) databases up to June 13, 2023. 42 articles were included in which the lymph node mass was assessed with a US exam, and the analysis was performed using radiomics methods. From the survey of the selected articles, experimental evidence suggests that radiomics features extracted from US images can be a useful tool for predicting and characterizing lymphadenopathy in patients with breast, head and neck, and cervical cancer. This noninvasive and effective method allows the extraction of important information beyond mere morphological characteristics, extracting features that may be related to lymph node involvement. Future studies are needed to investigate the role of US-radiomics in other types of cancers, such as melanoma.