Title: The CT-based intratumoral and peritumoral machine learning radiomics analysis in
predicting lymph node metastasis in rectal carcinoma
Version: 1 Date: 31 Aug 2022
Reviewer's report:
The authors constructed and validated clinical and machine learning nomogram to predict the
lymph node metastasis (LNM) status of rectal carcinoma (RC) based on radiomics and clinical
characteristics. I have some minor concerns after reading the paper as shown below.
1. The authors mentioned “While to best of our knowledge, the routine CT-based intratumoral
and peritumoral radiomics analysis have been neglected.” As we know, many papers have been
published using intratumoral and peritumoral imaging features. I have just performed a quick
search on WOS (https://www.webofscience.com/wos) using the keywords “CT intratumoral and
peritumoral radiomics analysis” and 19 results are present. It would be better that the authors
have a thorough literature review of the topic and introduce the related study.
2. The authors expanded 5mm from the margin of the tumor to obtain the VOI-pt. Please explain
why the authors used 5mm instead of other values?
3. It would be better that the authors present the VOI-it and VOI-pt in one figure using different
colors to avoid confusion.
4. How many patients were included when calculating the intra-observer correlation coefficient?
It’s not appropriate that the authors use the mean values of radiomics features between two
radiologists in further analysis.
5. The authors used four steps to screen radiomics features, and the accumulative error might
be an issue that should be discussed.
6. It would be necessary to include the purpose of the author for plotting the heat map (Figure 4).
7. The written language part could be further improved. I recommend having this manuscript go
through the eyes of English-speaking colleagues for improvement.
Title: The CT-based intratumoral and peritumoral machine learning radiomics analysis in
predicting lymph node metastasis in rectal carcinoma
Version: 1 Date: 31 Aug 2022
Reviewer's report:
The authors constructed and validated clinical and machine learning nomogram to predict the
lymph node metastasis (LNM) status of rectal carcinoma (RC) based on radiomics and clinical
characteristics. I have some minor concerns after reading the paper as shown below.
1. The authors mentioned “While to best of our knowledge, the routine CT-based intratumoral
and peritumoral radiomics analysis have been neglected.” As we know, many papers have been
published using intratumoral and peritumoral imaging features. I have just performed a quick
search on WOS (https://www.webofscience.com/wos) using the keywords “CT intratumoral and
peritumoral radiomics analysis” and 19 results are present. It would be better that the authors
have a thorough literature review of the topic and introduce the related study.
2. The authors expanded 5mm from the margin of the tumor to obtain the VOI-pt. Please explain
why the authors used 5mm instead of other values?
3. It would be better that the authors present the VOI-it and VOI-pt in one figure using different
colors to avoid confusion.
4. How many patients were included when calculating the intra-observer correlation coefficient?
It’s not appropriate that the authors use the mean values of radiomics features between two
radiologists in further analysis.
5. The authors used four steps to screen radiomics features, and the accumulative error might
be an issue that should be discussed.
6. It would be necessary to include the purpose of the author for plotting the heat map (Figure 4).
7. The written language part could be further improved. I recommend having this manuscript go
through the eyes of English-speaking colleagues for improvement.
Please review this paper.
user
Title: The CT-based intratumoral and peritumoral machine learning radiomics analysis in
predicting lymph node metastasis in rectal carcinoma
Version: 1 Date: 31 Aug 2022
Reviewer's report:
The authors constructed and validated clinical and machine learning nomogram to predict the
lymph node metastasis (LNM) status of rectal carcinoma (RC) based on radiomics and clinical
characteristics. I have some minor concerns after reading the paper as shown below.
1. The authors mentioned “While to best of our knowledge, the routine CT-based intratumoral
and peritumoral radiomics analysis have been neglected.” As we know, many papers have been
published using intratumoral and peritumoral imaging features. I have just performed a quick
search on WOS (https://www.webofscience.com/wos) using the keywords “CT intratumoral and
peritumoral radiomics analysis” and 19 results are present. It would be better that the authors
have a thorough literature review of the topic and introduce the related study.
2. The authors expanded 5mm from the margin of the tumor to obtain the VOI-pt. Please explain
why the authors used 5mm instead of other values?
3. It would be better that the authors present the VOI-it and VOI-pt in one figure using different
colors to avoid confusion.
4. How many patients were included when calculating the intra-observer correlation coefficient?
It’s not appropriate that the authors use the mean values of radiomics features between two
radiologists in further analysis.
5. The authors used four steps to screen radiomics features, and the accumulative error might
be an issue that should be discussed.
6. It would be necessary to include the purpose of the author for plotting the heat map (Figure 4).
7. The written language part could be further improved. I recommend having this manuscript go
through the eyes of English-speaking colleagues for improvement.
assistant