Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42069945›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of colorectal disease2026

Development and external validation of an interpretable multimodal deep learning model for 5-year mortality in high-risk stage ii colorectal cancer.

Xin Li, Lei Liang, Zhong-Hua Liu, Chun Wang, Tawfik Ali Hamood Alburiahi, Zhen-Ya Yang, Ning Xu, Jun Yang

Abstract readValidation StudyMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of colorectal disease, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Xin Li *Department of Surgical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China.
Lei Liang *Department of Surgical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China.
Zhong-Hua LiuDepartment of General Surgery, The Third People's Hospital of Honghe Prefecture, Gejiu, China.
Chun WangDepartment of Emergency Trauma Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Puer City, Yunnan, China.
Tawfik Ali Hamood AlburiahiDepartment of Surgical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China.
Zhen-Ya YangDepartment of Surgical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China.
Ning XuDepartment of Surgical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China. xuning@kmmu.edu.cn.
Jun YangDepartment of Surgical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China. yangjun6@kmmu.edu.cn.

Funding

Education teaching research project of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University No.2024-JY-19National Natural Science Foundation of China No.82560569Science and Technology Projects of Yunnan Universities Serving Key Industries No.FWCY-BSPY2025076The Yunnan Revitalization Talent Support Program No. RLQB20200004 and RLMY20220013
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeHigh-risk stage II colorectal cancer (CRC) shows heterogeneous outcomes despite adjuvant chemotherapy. We developed and validated an interpretable multimodal deep learning model integrating clinical data, serum biomarkers, and venous-phase CT to predict 5-year CRC-specific mortality in high-risk stage II CRC.

methodsThis retrospective, multicenter cohort included 778 high-risk stage II CRC patients from three centers, all treated with adjuvant chemotherapy and with complete preoperative clinical, biomarker, and venous-phase CT data. Patients were split into a development cohort (Centers A + B, n = 720) and an external testing cohort (Center C, n = 58). A multimodal model combining numerical (clinical + biomarker) and imaging (CT) inputs was developed and internally validated using tenfold cross-validation in the development cohort and evaluated in the external cohort. Interpretability was assessed using SHAP and Grad-CAM.

resultsIn the development cohort, the multimodal model showed superior discrimination (AUC 0.89; 95% CI, 0.87-0.91) versus numerical-only (AUC 0.76) and imaging-only (AUC 0.69). In the external testing cohort (9/58 CRC-specific deaths), the multimodal model achieved an AUC of 0.88 (95% CI, 0.76-0.96). SHAP and Grad-CAM consistently highlighted age, CA125, and tumor regions on CT as key contributors.

conclusionThis interpretable multimodal approach, using routine clinical, biomarker, and CT data, improves 5-year mortality risk stratification in high-risk stage II CRC and may inform risk-adapted surveillance and clinical decision support; prospective validation is warranted before treatment modification.

Indexed as

Colorectal NeoplasmsDeep LearningAgedBiomarkers, TumorFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeoplasm StagingReproducibility of ResultsRetrospective StudiesRisk FactorsTomography, X-Ray ComputedBiomarkers, TumorCA125Colorectal cancerComputed tomographyDeep learningHigh-risk stage IIPrognostic prediction

Identifiers

PMID42069945
PMCPMC13279583

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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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.