Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42804147›Full record

ArticleLa Radiologia medica2026

ViT-radiomics fusion for lymph node classification in ultrasound images: a multicenter study.

Xinyang Han, Jingguo Qu, Simon Takadiyi Gunda, Ziman Chen, Jing Qin, Ann Dorothy King, Winnie Chiu-Wing Chu, Jing Cai, Jia Ai, Michael Tin-Cheung Ying

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Article in La Radiologia medica, 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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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Xinyang Han *Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Jingguo Qu *Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Simon Takadiyi GundaDepartment of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Ziman ChenDepartment of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Jing QinCentre for Smart Health and School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Ann Dorothy KingDepartment of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Winnie Chiu-Wing ChuDepartment of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Jing CaiDepartment of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Jia AiSuzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Suzhou, China.
Michael Tin-Cheung YingDepartment of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. michael.ying@polyu.edu.hk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5979-6072

Funding

Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee General Research Fund of the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (Reference no. 15102222).
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUltrasound (US) is widely used for assessing lymph node (LN) status, but its diagnostic accuracy remains highly operator dependent. A robust computer-assisted diagnostic model may enhance clinical performance and improve inter-operator and inter-center consistencies. PURPOSE: To develop and validate a multimodal fusion model, ViT-Rad, that combines radiomics features and deep learning features derived from vision transformers (ViT) for the classification of benign and malignant LNs in US images.

methodsBetween February 2016 and November 2023, a total of 1647 ultrasound images were retrospectively collected for analysis. In this multicenter study, we constructed ViT-Rad, a three-module neural network integrating ViT-based global contextual features and radiomics features extracted from manually delineated regions of interest. To address potential cross-center domain shift, we further employed weak/strong augmentation and a few-shot domain adaptation strategy using limited labeled external-center samples.

resultsThe model was trained and evaluated on a dataset from Center 1 (n = 1273; mean ± SD age, 57 ± 14 years), and its generalizability was tested on an external dataset from Center 2 (n = 374; mean ± SD age, 52 ± 18 years). ViT-Rad achieved an AUC of 0.95 [95% CI 0.91, 0.98] and an accuracy of 0.90 [95% CI 0.85, 0.95] on the internal test set, outperforming conventional radiomics models (AUC = 0.79, 95% CI 0.71, 0.89; P = .006). With domain adaptation, its AUC on the external set increased from 0.73 [95% CI 0.69, 0.79] to 0.85 [95% CI 0.81, 0.90]. These findings suggest improved adaptation-assisted external performance under cross-center domain shift.

conclusionBy combining radiomics and ViT-derived features, ViT-Rad effectively integrates domain-specific and global contextual information, improving internal diagnostic performance and showing improved external adaptability after few-shot domain adaptation for LN classification on US images.

Indexed as

Domain adaptationLymph node classificationMultimodal fusionRadiomicsUltrasoundVision transformer

Identifiers

PMID42804147

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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.