Myocardial Radiomics Texture Features Associated with Increased Coronary Calcium Score—First Results of a Photon-Counting CT
Isabelle Ayx,
Hishan Tharmaseelan,
Alexander Hertel,
Dominik Nörenberg,
Daniel Overhoff,
Lukas T. Rotkopf,
Philipp Riffel,
Stefan O. Schoenberg,
Matthias F. Froelich
Affiliations
Isabelle Ayx
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
Hishan Tharmaseelan
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
Alexander Hertel
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
Dominik Nörenberg
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
Daniel Overhoff
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
Lukas T. Rotkopf
Department of Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Philipp Riffel
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
Stefan O. Schoenberg
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
Matthias F. Froelich
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
The coronary artery calcium score is an independent risk factor of the development of adverse cardiac events. The severity of coronary artery calcification may influence the myocardial texture. Due to higher spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, new CT technologies such as PCCT may improve the detection of texture alterations depending on the severity of coronary artery calcification. In this retrospective, single-center, IRB-approved study, left ventricular myocardium was segmented and radiomics features were extracted using pyradiomics. The mean and standard deviation with the Pearson correlation coefficient for correlations of features were calculated and visualized as boxplots and heatmaps. Random forest feature selection was performed. Thirty patients (26.7% women, median age 58 years) were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided into two subgroups depending on the severity of coronary artery calcification (Agatston score 0 and Agatston score ≥ 100). Through random forest feature selection, a set of four higher-order features could be defined to discriminate myocardial texture between the two groups. When including the additional Agatston 1–99 groups as a validation, a severity-associated change in feature intensity was detected. A subset of radiomics features texture alterations of the left ventricular myocardium was associated with the severity of coronary artery calcification estimated by the Agatston score.
