Systems and methods for diagnosing tumors in a subject by performing a quantitative analysis of texture-based features of a tumor object in a radiological image

1. A method for diagnosing tumors in a subject by performing a quantitative analysis of a radiological image, comprising:

identifying, using a processor, a region of interest (ROI) in the radiological image;

segmenting the ROI from the radiological image using the processor;

identifying a tumor object in the segmented ROI using the processor;

segmenting the tumor object from the segmented ROI using the processor;

extracting, by the processor, a plurality of quantitative features describing the segmented tumor object; and

classifying the tumor object based on the extracted quantitative features using the processor, wherein the quantitative features include one or more texture-based features and wherein a total number of quantitative features is greater than approximately 10.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein classifying the tumor object based on the extracted quantitative features further comprises predicting whether the tumor object is a malignant or benign tumor.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein classifying the tumor object based on the extracted quantitative features further comprises using a decision tree algorithm, a nearest neighbor algorithm or a support vector machine.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the texture-based features describes a spatial arrangement of image intensities within the tumor object.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the texture-based features include at least one of a run-length texture feature, a co-occurrence texture feature, a Laws texture feature, a wavelet texture feature or a histogram texture feature.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quantitative features include one or more shape-based features.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein each of the shape-based features describes a location, a geometric shape, a volume, a surface area, a surface-area-to-volume ratio or a compactness of the tumor object.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a total number of quantitative features is greater than approximately 200.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a number of texture-based features is greater than approximately 150.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ROI is a lung field.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the radiological image is a low-dose computed tomography (CT) image.

12. A method for diagnosing tumors in a subject by performing a quantitative analysis of a radiological image, comprising:

Identifying, using a processor, a region of interest (ROI) in the radiological image;

segmenting the ROI from the radiological image using the processor;

identifying a tumor object in the segmented ROI using the processor;

segmenting the tumor object from the segmented ROI using the processor;

extracting, using the processor, a plurality of quantitative features describing the segmented tumor object;

reducing, by the processor, the extracted plurality of quantitative features to a subset of extracted quantitative features; and

classifying, by the processor, the tumor object based on the subset of extracted quantitative features, wherein the quantitative features include one or more texture-based features.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the subset of extracted quantitative features includes one or more quantitative features that are predictive of the classification of the tumor object.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining the one or more quantitative features that are predictive of the classification of the tumor object using at least one of a Recursive Elimination of Features (Relief-F) algorithm, a Correlation-Based Feature Subset Selection for Machine Learning (CFS) algorithm or a Relief-F with Correlation Detection algorithm.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the subset of extracted quantitative features includes one or more non-redundant quantitative features having adequate reproducibility and dynamic range.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein reducing the extracted quantitative features to a subset of extracted quantitative features further comprises eliminating one or more of the extracted quantitative features having a reproducibility metric between a baseline radiological image and a subsequent radiological image less than a predetermined reproducibility value, the subsequent radiological image being captured a fixed period of time after the baseline radiological image was captured.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the reproducibility metric is a concordance correlation coefficient.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the predetermined reproducibility value is less than 0.90.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein reducing the extracted quantitative features to a subset of extracted quantitative features further comprises eliminating one or more of the extracted quantitative features having a dynamic range less than a predetermined dynamic range value.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein reducing the extracted quantitative features to a subset of extracted quantitative features further comprises eliminating one or more of the extracted quantitative features that are redundant quantitative features.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising calculating a coefficient of determination (R 2 Bet ) between at least two quantitative features, wherein the R 2 Bet of each of the redundant quantitative features is less than a predetermined redundancy value.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein predetermined redundancy value is 0.95.