CT-Based Texture Analysis in Indeterminate Pediatric Renal and Pararenal Masses.

Background: Differentiation between pediatric Wilms tumor and neuroblastoma may be difficult when solely based on conventional computed tomography (CT) features, especially in large tumors. Objective: This article analyzes the role of CT-based texture analysis (CTTA) in differentiating (1) pediatric Wilms tumor and neuroblastoma and (2) between histological and Materials and Methods: Treatment-naive cases of pediatric (< 18 years) renal/pararenal tumors who underwent a single-phase contrast-enhanced CT of chest, abdomen, and pelvis for staging and preoperative evaluation purposes were enrolled. CT images were processed with texture analysis software for first-order texture features. Calculated parameters included mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis. Grayscale features were also analyzed among the tumor groups and subgroups. Mann-Whitney Observations and Results: A total of 37 lesions (22 neuroblastoma, 15 Wilms) were evaluated. With respect to grayscale features, neuroblastoma tumors exhibited calcifications in greater frequency with a higher propensity for nodal and visceral metastasis. Significant differences were observed when comparing variance of the two tumor groups with neuroblastoma showing higher intralesional variance values than Wilms tumor. Undifferentiated subtype of neuroblastoma demonstrated higher intralesional variance than other two subtypes combined; Conclusion: CTTA has a potential role in allowing differentiation between neuroblastoma and Wilms tumor. It may additionally allow differentiation among various histological subtypes of neuroblastoma and detection of