Review of the Role of Radiomics in Tumour Risk Classification and Prognosis of Cancer

Radiomics, an emerging field in radiation therapy, is hypothesized to improve classification of tumour risk and prognosis. Despite encouraging results, there are issues of practicality and interpretation of radiomic data. This study investigates the emerging role of radiomics in tumour risk classification and prognosis of breast and prostate cancer. A literature search was conducted using predefined terms to retrieve studies related to radiomics. Studies were evaluated and selected upon meeting the criteria defined. A total of 19 relevant publications were selected from 63 publications identified. Data from studies revealed significant area under the curve (AUC) values and high discriminative power. Significant AUC values for biochemical recurrence of disease and disease-free survival were reported for prognosis. Radiomics show promising potential in discriminating tumour risk and predicting prognosis of cancer using specified features. It is an alternative to conventional predictive tools and has the ability to improve with the use of existing tools.