Study on the classification of benign and malignant breast lesions using a multi-sequence breast MRI fusion radiomics and deep learning model

Purpose: To develop a multi-modal model combining multi-sequence breast MRI fusion radiomics and deep learning for the classification of benign and malignant breast lesions, to assist clinicians in better selecting treatment plans. Methods: A total of 314 patients who underwent breast MRI examinations were included. They were randomly divided into training, validation, and test sets in a ratio of 7:1:2. Subsequently, features of T1-weighted images (T1WI), T2-weighted images (T2WI), and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) were extracted using the convolutional neural network ResNet50 for fusion, and then combined with radiomic features from the three sequences. The following models were established: T1 model, T2 model, DCE model, DCE_T1_T2 model, and DCE_T1_T2_rad model. The performance of the models was evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. The differences between the DCE_T1_T2_rad model and the other four models were compared using the Delong test, with a P-value < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: The five models established in this study performed well, with AUC values of 0.53 for the T1 model, 0.62 for the T2 model, 0.79 for the DCE model, 0.94 for the DCE_T1_T2 model, and 0.98 for the DCE_T1_T2_rad model. The DCE_T1_T2_rad model showed statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) compared to the other four models. Conclusion: The use of a multi-modal model combining multi-sequence breast MRI fusion radiomics and deep learning can effectively improve the diagnostic performance of breast lesion classification.