Radiomics, a rapidly growing and innovative field in medical imaging, extracts detailed features from medical scans that could play a pivotal future adjunct role in patient care. However, the clinical adoption of radiomics is stalled by significant research heterogeneity and reproducibility issues [1]. The complex radiomics pipeline, requiring multidisciplinary expertise, often lacks transparency regarding sharing crucial details like software tools and imaging parameters [1-3].
A recent European Radiology systematic review by Akinci D’Antonoli et al. assessed radiomics studies published in top North American and European radiology journals from 2021 and 2022 [4]. Of 257 studies, only 7.8% shared their code and a mere 6.2% shared their data or used publicly available datasets; worse, some studies had broken links. This points to a systemic failure in ensuring scientific rigor and reproducibility.
An open-source GitHub repository (https://github.com/EuSoMII/RadBase) provided by the authors aims to combat these issues by providing free access to radiomics code. This initiative promotes inclusivity, collaboration, and validation of findings. Furthermore, it could democratize research, cut costs, and prevent data loss, leading to wider adoption and sustainability. However, for repositories to be effective, user-friendly interfaces and rigorous quality control measures are essential.
The potential of radiomics is undeniable, but without a commitment to knowledge-sharing and stringent quality controls, it risks being another overhyped technology that fails to deliver on its promises. The research community must act appropriately for radiomics to be translational and for it to add to clinical decision-making and improve patient outcomes.
- Malcolm, J.A., et al., Current state of radiomic research in pancreatic cancer: focusing on study design and reproducibility of findings. Eur Radiol, 2023. 33(10): p. 6659-6669.
- Kocak, B., et al., Assessment of RadiomIcS rEsearch (ARISE): a brief guide for authors, reviewers, and readers from the Scientific Editorial Board of European Radiology. Eur Radiol, 2023. 33(11): p. 7556-7560.
- Tran, K., et al., Post-radiotherapy stage III/IV non-small cell lung cancer radiomics research: a systematic review and comparison of CLEAR and RQS frameworks. Eur Radiol, 2024.
- Akinci D’Antonoli, T., et al., Towards reproducible radiomics research: introduction of a database for radiomics studies. Eur Radiol, 2024. 34(1): p. 436-443.
Article: Advancing radiomics research translation through a public database
Author: Hyun Soo Ko
