Deep Learning for Automated Discrimination Between Stage T1-T2 and T3 Renal Cell Carcinoma on Contrast-Enhanced CT

Deep Learning for Automated Discrimination Between Stage T1-T2 and T3 Renal Cell Carcinoma on Contrast-Enhanced CT

This study aims to develop and validate a contrast-enhanced CT-based deep-learning model for automatic and accurate preoperative discrimination between T1-T2 and T3 renal cell carcinoma. By quantifying the model's diagnostic performance on an independent test set-using AUC, sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive values, and decision-curve analysis-we will establish a decision-support tool that can be seamlessly integrated into clinical PACS, thereby reducing staging errors, refining surgical planning, and improving patient outcomes.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Histopathologically confirmed renal cell carcinoma on postoperative specimen.
2. Preoperative contrast-enhanced CT performed at our institution with slice thickness ≤ 1 mm and complete DICOM datasets.
3. Postoperative pathologic staging clearly defined as pT1a-T2b or pT3a.
4. CT image quality deemed adequate for analysis.

Exclusion Criteria:

• 1. Pathologic subtype other than RCC. 2. Images with severe artifacts.