Heterogenous lung inflammation CT patterns distinguish pneumonia and immune checkpoint inhibitor pneumonitis and complement blood biomarkers in acute myeloid leukemia: proof of concept

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) may cause pneumonitis, resulting in potentially fatal lung inflammation. However, distinguishing pneumonitis from pneumonia is time-consuming and challenging. To fill this gap, we build an image-based tool, and further evaluate it clinically alongside relevant blood biomarkers.

Materials and methods: We studied CT images from 97 patients with pneumonia and 29 patients with pneumonitis from acute myeloid leukemia treated with ICIs. We developed a CT-derived signature using a habitat imaging algorithm, whereby infected lungs are segregated into clusters ("habitats"). We validated the model and compared it with a clinical-blood model to determine whether imaging can add diagnostic value.

Results: Habitat imaging revealed intrinsic lung inflammation patterns by identifying 5 distinct subregions, correlating to lung parenchyma, consolidation, heterogenous ground-glass opacity (GGO), and GGO-consolidation transition. Consequently, our proposed habitat model (accuracy of 79%, sensitivity of 48%, and specificity of 88%) outperformed the clinical-blood model (accuracy of 68%, sensitivity of 14%, and specificity of 85%) for classifying pneumonia versus pneumonitis. Integrating imaging and blood achieved the optimal performance (accuracy of 81%, sensitivity of 52% and specificity of 90%). Using this imaging-blood composite model, the post-test probability for detecting pneumonitis increased from 23% to 61%, significantly (p = 1.5E - 9) higher than the clinical and blood model (post-test probability of 22%).

Conclusion: Habitat imaging represents a step forward in the image-based detection of pneumonia and pneumonitis, which can complement known blood biomarkers. Further work is needed to validate and fine tune this imaging-blood composite model and further improve its sensitivity to detect pneumonitis.