Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40322795›Full record

ArticleHead & neck2025

Artificial Intelligence Measured Tumor Burden and Pre-Treatment Circulating Tumor DNA in Human Papilloma Virus-Associated Oropharynx Cancer.

Mina Bakhtiar, Zezhong Ye, Jonathan D Schoenfeld, Homan Mohammadi, Jeffrey P Guenette, Eleni M Rettig, Glenn J Hanna, Benjamin H Kann

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Head & neck, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Mina BakhtiarHarvard Radiation Oncology Program, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5321-3913
Zezhong YeArtificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIM) Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Jonathan D SchoenfeldDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Homan MohammadiDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
Jeffrey P GuenetteDivision of Neuroradiology, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Eleni M RettigDepartment of Head and Neck Surgery, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Glenn J HannaDepartment of Head and Neck Medical Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Benjamin H KannArtificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIM) Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Funding

Harvard MD Anderson Collaborative to Reduce LyMphatic MOrbidity in Head and Neck Cancer with Artificial Intelligence (HARMONiC-AI)R01DE034780 · NIDCR · UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR · PI Clifton David Fuller, Katherine Arnold Hutcheson · 2025 to 2026
$1.4M
Development of an artificial intelligence-driven, imaging-based platform for pretreatment identification of extranodal extension in head and neck cancerK08DE030216 · NIDCR · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI KANN, BENJAMIN HARRIS · 2021 to 2025
$841k
Rapid Anatomic and Quantitative MR Imaging of the Skull Base and FaceK08EB034299 · NIBIB · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI Jeffrey P Guenette · 2024 to 2026
$574k
AHRQ HHS R18 HS029839NIBIB NIH HHS K08 EB034299NIDCR NIH HHS K08 DE030216NIDCR NIH HHS R01 DE034780
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundArtificial intelligence (AI)-based imaging analysis and circulating tumor-associated DNA (ctDNA) are both being used diagnostically in HPV-driven oropharynx squamous cell carcinoma (HPV-OPSCC). We evaluated associations between AI-measured tumor burden and ctDNA.

methodsWe analyzed 170 patients treated definitively for HPV-OPSCC. All had pre-treatment serum tumor-tissue modified viral (TTMV) ctDNA levels. An AI algorithm measured tumor and lymph nodes on CT scans. Linear regressions detected associations between ctDNA (fragments/mL) and automated volumes, clinical tumor (T) and nodal (N) stage, and disease factors.

resultsAutomated tumor volume (coeff = 39.43, p < 0.001), nodal volume (coeff = 39.54, p < 0.001), T stage (coeff = 1031.09, p = 0.009), and N stage (coeff = 1840, p = 0.018) were associated with ctDNA. On multivariable analysis, tumor (coeff = 34.79, p = 0.001) and nodal volumes (coeff = 24.68, p = 0.022) were associated with ctDNA; T and N stage were not.

conclusionsAutomated volumetrics are independently and more strongly associated with ctDNA, compared with clinical stage. Automated volumetrics provide a practical correlate to ctDNA.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceCarcinoma, Squamous CellCirculating Tumor DNAOropharyngeal NeoplasmsPapillomavirus InfectionsTumor BurdenAdultAgedFemaleHuman Papillomavirus VirusesHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeoplasm StagingSquamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and NeckTomography, X-Ray ComputedCirculating Tumor DNAartificial intelligencecirculating tumor DNAHPVliquid biopsyoropharynx cancer

Identifiers

PMID40322795
PMCPMC12461738

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.