Preoperative evaluation of microvascular invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma with a radiological feature-based nomogram: a bi-centre study

Purpose To develop a nomogram for preoperative assessment of microvascular invasion (MVI) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on the radiological features of enhanced CT and to verify two imaging techniques (CT and MRI) in an external centre. Method A total of 346 patients were retrospectively included (training, n = 185, CT images; external testing 1, n = 90, CT images; external testing 2, n = 71, MRI images), including 229 MVI-negative patients and 117 MVI-positive patients. The radiological features and clinical information of enhanced CT images were analysed, and the independent variables associated with MVI in HCC were determined by logistic regression analysis. Then, a nomogram prediction model was constructed. External validation was performed on CT ( n = 90) and MRI ( n = 71) images from another centre. Results Among the 23 radiological and clinical features, size, arterial peritumoral enhancement (APE), tumour margin and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) were independent influencing factors for MVI in HCC. The nomogram integrating these risk factors had a good predictive effect, with AUC, specificity and sensitivity values of 0.834 (95% CI: 0.774–0.895), 75.0% and 83.5%, respectively. The AUC values of external verification based on CT and MRI image data were 0.794 (95% CI: 0.700–0.888) and 0.883 (95% CI: 0.807–0.959), respectively. No statistical difference in AUC values among training set and testing sets was found. Conclusion The proposed nomogram prediction model for MVI in HCC has high accuracy, can be used with different imaging techniques, and has good clinical applicability.