Primary clinical study of radiomics for diagnosing simple bone cyst of the jaw.

Objective: To screen the radiomic features of simple bone cysts of the jaws and explore the potential application of radiomics in pre-operative diagnosis of jaw simple bone cysts.

Methods: The investigators designed and implemented a case-control study. 19 patients with simple bone cysts who were admitted to the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Affiliated Stomatology Hospital from 2013 to 2019 were included in this study. Their clinical data and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images were examined. The control group consisted of patients with odontogenic keratocyst. CBCT imaging features were analyzed and compared between the patient and control groups.

Results: Overall, 10,323 image features were extracted through feature analysis. A subset of 25 radiomic features obtained after feature selection were analyzed further. These 25 features were significantly different between the 2 groups ( < 0.05). The absolute value of correlation coefficient was 0.487-0.775. Gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) contrast, neighborhood gray tone difference matrix (NGTDM) contrast, and GLCM variance were the features with the highest correlation coefficients.

Conclusions: Pre-operative radiomics analysis showed the differences between simple bone cysts and odontogenic keratocysts, can help to diagnose simple bone cysts. Three specific texture features-GLCM contrast, NGTDM contrast, and GLCM variance-may be the characteristic imaging features of simple bone cysts of the jaw.