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• Clinical Article •
Preliminary study on analyzing inflammatory activity in axial spondyloarthritis using DCE-MRI-based multiparametric radiomics models​
LIN Jinru  SU Yun  NURABDULLA·Yiming   WANG Shuntao  YUSUFUKARE·Keyimu   JING Jun  YANG Zehong 

Cite this article as: LIN J R, SU Y, NURABDULLA·Y M, et al. Preliminary study on analyzing inflammatory activity in axial spondyloarthritis using DCE-MRI-based multiparametric radiomics models​[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2025, 16(9): 146-152. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.09.022.


[Abstract] Objective To explore dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) multi-parametric and radiomics data in constructing an evaluation model for inflammatory activity in axial spondyloarthritis, providing a reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment.Materials and Methods This study enrolled 93 patients clinically diagnosed with axial spondyloarthritis, who were classified into the active and inactive inflammatory groups based on the Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS). All participants underwent DCE-MRI scans of the sacroiliac joints. The Omni-Kinetics post-processing software was utilized to measure quantitative permeability parameters, quantitative perfusion parameters, and semi-quantitative parameters in the region of interest (ROI) of the sacroiliac joints. ITK-SNAP software delineated three-dimensional volume of interest (VOI) encompassing the bilateral sacral and iliac bone surfaces. Radiomic features were extracted from these VOIs utilizing the Artificial Intelligent Kit (A.K.) software. Subsequently, predictive models for different levels of axial spondyloarthritis inflammatory activity were constructed employing cross-validation and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method. These models included the Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) scoring model, DCE-MRI multi-parameter combined model, and DCE-MRI radiomics integrated model. The models were validated through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, with their performance evaluated based on the area under the curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity.Results (1) The AUC (95% CI) for SPARCC was 0.697 (0.589 to 0.805). (2) Among DCE-MRI parameters, efflux rate constant (Kep), time to peak (TTP), and extravascular extracellular volume fraction (Ve) showed significant differences (P < 0.05 by t-test or U-test), with AUCs (95% CI) of 0.628 (0.505 to 0.751), 0.648 (0.535 to 0.761), and 0.630 (0.511 to 0.749), respectively. The combined DCE-MRI parameter model achieved an AUC of 0.712 (0.600 to 0.823). (3) Radiomics features of DCE demonstrated AUCs (95% CI) ranging from 0.617 (0.489 to 0.746) to 0.889 (0.826 to 0.953), with the DCE-MRI combined radiomics model achieving an AUC of 0.951 (0.910 to 0.992). (4) The DCE-MRI radiomics integrated model's diagnostic performance was superior to the DCE-MRI multi-parameter combined model and SPARCC scoring model (AUC: 0.951 vs. 0.712; 0.951 vs. 0.697; both P < 0.001).Conclusions The DCE-MRI radiomics integrated model demonstrated significantly better performance than the DCE-MRI multi-parameter combined model and the SPARCC scoring model in assessing inflammatory activity in axial spondyloarthritis, providing a novel reference for its clinical management.
[Keywords] axial spondyloarthritis；dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging；radiomics；inflammatory activity；ankylosing spondylitis disease activity score

LIN Jinru1   SU Yun2   NURABDULLA·Yiming 2   WANG Shuntao1   YUSUFUKARE·Keyimu 2   JING Jun3   YANG Zehong2*  

1 Department of Radiology, Shenshan Medical Center, Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Shanwei 516600, China

2 Department of Radiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510120, China

3 Department of Rheumatology, Shenshan Medical Center, Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Shanwei 516600, China

Corresponding author: YANG Z H, E-mail: yangzeh2@mail.sysu.edu.cn

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2025-06-11
Accepted  2025-09-10
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.09.022
Cite this article as: LIN J R, SU Y, NURABDULLA·Y M, et al. Preliminary study on analyzing inflammatory activity in axial spondyloarthritis using DCE-MRI-based multiparametric radiomics models​[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2025, 16(9): 146-152. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.09.022.

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