Diagnostic utility of MRI-based convolutional neural networks in soft tissue sarcomas: a mini-review.

Purpose: This review assesses the diagnostic performance of MRI-based convolutional neural networks for identifying and grading soft tissue sarcomas, evaluating therapy responses, and assessing the risk for metastases and recurrences. Methods: Electronic databases, specifically PubMed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar, were diligently scoured for studies that delved into the intersection of convolutional neural networks, soft tissue sarcomas, and MRI. Three topics were included: 1) differentiating and grading soft tissue sarcomas, 2) assessing therapy response, and 3) predicting metastases and recurrences. Results: This review included 12 articles. Seven articles investigated the differentiation and grading of soft tissue sarcomas. Sensitivity for that issue ranged from 0.85 to 0.95, specificity from 0,33 to 1, and the area under the curve (AUC) from 0.74 to 0.96. Three articles investigated therapy responses, and two discussed metastasis and recurrence prediction. Only one article out of the five articles above presented accurate diagnostic values. That article examined the prediction of lung metastases and demonstrated a sensitivity of 0.47, a specificity of 0.97, and an AUC of 0.83. Conclusion: AI applications using CNNs demonstrated robust capabilities in differentiating and grading soft tissue sarcomas using MRI. However, studies on therapy response and prediction of metastases and recurrences are still lacking.