Leveraging Zero Echo Time (ZTE) MRI and ADC for Radiomics-Based Differentiation of Benign and Malignant Pulmonary Lesions

Motivation: The unique advantages of ZTE for lung imaging remain underutilized in radiomics for pulmonary lesion differentiation. There is also a lack of studies integrating ZTE and ADC to distinguish between benign and malignant pulmonary lesions, presenting an opportunity to develop a more effective diagnostic model. Goal(s): Develop and validate a radiomics model integrating ZTE and ADC to enhance the differentiation of benign and malignant pulmonary lesions. Approach: 97 patients were enrolled. Radiomics features extracted from ZTE and ADC were analyzed. Results: Among all radiomics models, the combination of ZTE and ADC demonstrated the highest diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.90). Impact: By integrating ZTE and ADC in a radiomics model, the proposed approach has the potential to significantly improve the accuracy of pulmonary lesion differentiation