We aimed to develop imaging biomarkers to predict radiation pneumonitis (RP) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients undergoing thoracic radiotherapy. We hypothesized that measuring morphometric complexity in the lung using simulation computed tomography may provide objective imaging biomarkers for lung parenchyma integrity, potentially forecasting the risk of RP. A retrospective study was performed on medical records of 175 patients diagnosed with NSCLC who had received thoracic radiotherapy. Three indices were utilized to measure the morphometric complexity of the lung parenchyma: box-counting fractal dimension, lacunarity, and minimum spanning tree (MST) fractal dimension. Patients were dichotomized into two groups at median values. Cox proportional hazard models were constructed to estimate the hazard ratios for grade ≥ 2 or grade ≥ 3 RP. We found significant associations between lung parenchymal morphometric complexity and RP incidence. In univariate Cox-proportional hazard analysis, patients with a lower MST fractal dimension had a significantly higher hazard ratio of 2.296 (95% CI: 1.348-3.910) for grade ≥ 2 RP. When adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, category of the underlying lung disease, category of radiotherapy technique, clinical stage, histology, and DLCO, patients with a lower MST fractal dimension showed a significantly higher hazard ratio of 3.292 (95% CI: 1.722-6.294) for grade ≥ 2 RP and 7.952 (95% CI: 1.722 36.733) for grade ≥ 3 RP than those with a higher MST fractal dimension. Patients with lower lacunarity exhibited a significantly lower hazard ratio of 0.091 (95% CI: 0.015-0.573) for grade ≥ 3 RP in the adjusted model. We speculated that the lung tissue integrity is captured by morphometric complexity measures, particularly by the MST fractal dimension. We suggest the MST fractal dimension as an imaging biomarker for predicting the occurrence of symptomatic RP after thoracic radiotherapy.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11595866PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life14111497DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

fractal dimension
28
mst fractal
24
grade ≥
24
morphometric complexity
16
thoracic radiotherapy
12
patients lower
12
hazard ratio
12
lung
9
radiation pneumonitis
8
non-small cell
8

Similar Publications

The field of emotion recognition from physiological signals is a growing area of research with significant implications for both mental health monitoring and human-computer interaction. This study introduces a novel approach to detecting emotional states based on fractal analysis of electrodermal activity (EDA) signals. We employed detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), Hurst exponent estimation, and wavelet entropy calculation to extract fractal features from EDA signals obtained from the CASE dataset, which contains physiological recordings and continuous emotion annotations from 30 participants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Fractal Conditional Correlation Dimension Infers Complex Causal Networks.

Entropy (Basel)

November 2024

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Clarkson University, 8 Clarkson Ave., Potsdam, NY 13699, USA.

Determining causal inference has become popular in physical and engineering applications. While the problem has immense challenges, it provides a way to model the complex networks by observing the time series. In this paper, we present the optimal conditional correlation dimensional geometric information flow principle (oGeoC) that can reveal direct and indirect causal relations in a network through geometric interpretations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Molecular architecture of the altered cortical complexity in autism.

Mol Autism

January 2025

Human Anatomy Department, Nanjing Medical University, No.101 Longmian Avenue, Jiangning District, Nanjing, 211166, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties in social interaction, communication challenges, and repetitive behaviors. Despite extensive research, the molecular mechanisms underlying these neurodevelopmental abnormalities remain elusive. We integrated microscale brain gene expression data with macroscale MRI data from 1829 participants, including individuals with ASD and typically developing controls, from the autism brain imaging data exchange I and II.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Due to the fluidity of the loose medium inside the waste dump slope, the traditional monitoring system cannot fully reflect the misalignment and slip between particles inside the medium, and it is also difficult to capture the precursor information of the slip of the loose accumulation body. To reveal the dynamic evolution process of the slope instability of the waste dump slope, the coupling test system of the slope instability of the waste dump slope was used to carry out the study of the acoustic emission characteristics of the slope instability dynamic response of the dump slope under the action of vibration, and to quantitatively analyse the staged characteristics of the acoustic emission parameter evolution of the dump slope under the action of different vibration frequencies and its instability initiation node. The results show that with the increase of vibration frequency, the damage mode of the slope model gradually changes from sliding of small particles to large-scale landslides, and presents the stage process of "vibration compaction → vibration equilibrium → dynamic instability"; Under the action of low-frequency and high-amplitude, the slope model mainly shows that the tiny particles and the basement gravel slip, which is difficult to capture with the naked eye, while under the action of high-frequency and low-amplitude, the slope surface is damaged in a large area, and the overall model is unstable; The dynamic instability of the waste dump slope is accompanied by obvious acoustic emission activities, and the changes of the characteristic parameters of acoustic emission reveal, to a certain extent, the evolution of the internal state of the slope in the process of dynamic instability of the waste dump slope and its stage characteristics; The amplitude and energy efficiency of acoustic emission in the time domain show obvious fractal characteristics in the dynamic instability of the waste dump slope.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aberrant Cortical Morphological Networks in First-Episode Schizophrenia.

Schizophr Bull

January 2025

Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China.

Background And Hypothesis: Population-based morphological covariance networks are widely reported to be altered in schizophrenia. Individualized morphological brain network approaches have emerged recently. We hypothesize that individualized morphological brain networks are disrupted in schizophrenia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!