Test–Retest Reproducibility Analysis of Bone Mineral Densitometry Radiomics Features

Abstract Background Radiomics features reproducibility assessment is a critical issue in imaging biomarker development era. In the present study, we aimed to assess test–retest reproducibility analysis of bone mineral densitometry (BMD) image radiomics features. Methods In this prospective research work, eighteen patients were included and were subjected to DXA BMD scans acquired within 10 min of each other under an approved protocol. Seven regions of interest (ROIs) including four lumbar spine regions (L1-L4) and three hip regions (trochanteric, inter trochanteric and neck) in both test and re-test images were segmented and 107 radiomics features from seven different feature sets were extracted. Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) were initially used to estimate radiomics features reproducibility. Results We showed that there is no radiomics feature with 90% < ICC < 100% in all ROIs, but there are three feature including Strength (from NGTDM feature set), SALGLE (Small Area Low Gray Level Emphasis) (from GLSZM feature set) and Busyness (from NGTDM feature set) with ICC < 70% in all eight ROIs. Shape features has features with ICC < 70%. Conclusion Our study on test–retest reproducibility analysis of bone mineral densitometry radiomics features shows radiomics features have several variations against changes of time of image acquisition. The reproducible features may be used as imaging biomarkers in the field of clinical densitometry. The results of this study may be repeated by more radiomics features and more BMD scanners as first line for bone mineral biomarker discovery.