Can computer-analysis of liver texture during CT provide biomarkers for patients with colorectal cancer? Colorectal cancer patients entering surveillance programs do not represent a uniform population of equal risk of recurrence. Identification of predictive factors that are linked to outcomes may allow modification of surveillance strategies for sub-groups of patients and the need for research in this area has been highlighted by an expert panel of ASCO [1]. A number of laboratory-derived predictive factors have been identified for patients with colorectal cancer [2,3] but relatively...

Measuring Liver Texture A feasibility study comprised 27 patients undergoing CT after primary resection of colorectal cancer followed by an evaluation group of a further 32 patients. Hepatic CT perfusion and survival data were available for both groups with fluorodeoxyglucose PET results accessible in the evaluation group. Texture was assessed within regions of interest (ROIs) manually constructed over apparently normal liver whilst excluding major blood vessels and fat. Texture analysis comprised: a) band-pass image filtration using Laplacian of Gaussian filter (Figure 1) to highlight image...

Key Findings: Feasibility Study Evaluation Study Unfiltered Texture Analysis Non-Contrast CT Contrast-Enhanced CT Filtered Texture Analysis Non-Contrast CT Contrast-Enhanced CT 3. Biological Correlates For Liver Texture 1. Feasibility Study Tables 2, 3 and 4 indicates the regression values along with their significance for the unfiltered and filtered texture analysis for mean grey-level intensity, entropy and uniformity respectively against HPI and patient survival. The feasibility study demonstrated that unfiltered texture demonstrated poor correlations against hepatic perfusion index (HPI) and patient survival. Predominantly coarse liver texture quantified...

Texture analysis of hepatic CT can be an useful adjunct in computer assisted diagnosis: The greater sensitivity of additional liver texture quantification parameters – entropy and uniformity to tumour-related changes in the liver during contrast enhanced CT highlights their potential to increase the utility of contrast enhancement by identifying patients at risk of subsequently developing overt liver lesions. Liver texture has the potential to act as an imaging biomarker which predicts patients with intra- and extra-hepatic disease from apparently disease-free areas of non-contrast and contrast...