Development and evaluation of an open-source software package "CGITA" for quantifying tumor heterogeneity with molecular images.
BACKGROUND
The quantification of tumor heterogeneity with molecular images, by analyzing the local or global variation in the spatial arrangements of pixel intensity with texture analysis, possesses a great clinical potential for treatment planning and prognosis. To address the lack of available software for computing the tumor heterogeneity on the public domain, we develop a software package, namely, Chang-Gung Image Texture Analysis (CGITA) toolbox, and provide it to the research community as a free, open-source project.


METHODS
With a user-friendly graphical interface, CGITA provides users with an easy way to compute more than seventy heterogeneity indices. To test and demonstrate the usefulness of CGITA, we used a small cohort of eighteen locally advanced oral cavity (ORC) cancer patients treated with definitive radiotherapies.


RESULTS
In our case study of ORC data, we found that more than ten of the current implemented heterogeneity indices outperformed SUVmean for outcome prediction in the ROC analysis with a higher area under curve (AUC). Heterogeneity indices provide a better area under the curve up to 0.9 than the SUVmean and TLG (0.6 and 0.52, resp.).


CONCLUSIONS
CGITA is a free and open-source software package to quantify tumor heterogeneity from molecular images. CGITA is available for free for academic use at http://code.google.com/p/cgita.
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan ; Molecular Imaging Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan.
Yu-Hua Dean
YH
Fang
Department of Radiation Oncology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan ; Head and Neck Oncology Group, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
Chien-Yu
CY
Lin
Advanced Research Institute, Institute for Information Industry, Taipei, Taiwan.
Meng-Jung
MJ
Shih
Head and Neck Oncology Group, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan ; Medical Oncology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan.
Hung-Ming
HM
Wang
Head and Neck Oncology Group, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan ; Department of Nuclear Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, No. 5 Fu-Hsin Street, Kwei-Shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
Tsung-Ying
TY
Ho
Head and Neck Oncology Group, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan ; Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
Chun-Ta
CT
Liao
Molecular Imaging Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan ; Head and Neck Oncology Group, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan ; Department of Nuclear Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, No. 5 Fu-Hsin Street, Kwei-Shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
Tzu-Chen
TC
Yen
D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012984:Software; D012985:Software Design; D014584:User-Computer Interface