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Prediction of microvascular invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma using contrast-enhanced ultrasound and deep learning.

July 10, 2026pubmed logopapers

Authors

Pang C,Ru J,Liu Y,Ding W,Chai S,Yao J,Liu S,Feng H,Liu J,Chen M,Kuang M,Chen S,Ying M,Yang J,Chen C,Yu X,Zhang H,Gao X,Tian J,Wang K,Yu J,Liang P

Affiliations (15)

  • Department of Interventional Ultrasound, Senior Department of Oncology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
  • CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
  • School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
  • School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
  • Department of Ultrasound, Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
  • Department of Medical Ultrasound, Xuzhou Central Hospital, Xuzhou, China.
  • Department of Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China.
  • Department of Pathology and Hepatology, Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
  • Center of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
  • Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
  • School of Engineering Medicine, Beihang University, Beijing, China.
  • CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. [email protected].
  • School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. [email protected].
  • Department of Interventional Ultrasound, Senior Department of Oncology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China. [email protected].
  • Department of Interventional Ultrasound, Senior Department of Oncology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China. [email protected].

Abstract

Microvascular invasion (MVI) is a key prognostic factor in hepatocellular carcinoma but is currently only detectable after surgery. Here, we develop MAPUSE, a deep learning model using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to predict MVI non-invasively. We train and test the model on 5148 CEUS videos from 1716 patients across multiple centers. Results show that MAPUSE achieves accurate MVI prediction (AUCs 0.835-0.978) across different tumor sizes, contrast agents, and prospective validations. Transcriptomic analysis links the model's predictions to CD8 + T cell immune infiltration, confirmed via the model's attention maps. In a clinical cohort, patients predicted as MVI-positive can benefit from post-ablation immunotherapy. MAPUSE thus enables preoperative, non-invasive MVI assessment and provides insights into the tumor immune microenvironment, offering a valuable tool for clinical decision-making.

Topics

Journal Article

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