Machine Learning to Predict Extranodal Extension in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical utility of machine learning algorithms (MLAs) in diagnosing extra-nodal extension (ENE) using CT imaging in HNSCC. DATA SOURCES: A comprehensive literature search was conducted on MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE, Cochrane, Scopus, and Web of Science, from January 1, 2000, to February 12, 2025. REVIEW METHODS: Two independent reviewers selected studies reporting the diagnostic accuracy of MLAs in detecting ENE in patients with HNSCC. The review followed PRISMA guidelines. Meta-analysis was performed using MedCalc (23.0.2), with pooled estimates of the area under the curve (AUC) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) calculated. The Checklist for Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging (CLAIM) was used to analyze the methodological quality of the included studies. RESULTS: Of 57 articles retrieved, six met inclusion criteria, encompassing 2870 lymph nodes from 1407 patients. MLAs achieved a pooled AUC of 0.92 (95% CI [0.915, 0.923], p < 0.001; fixed-effects) and 0.91 (95% CI [0.882, 0.929], p < 0.001; random-effects), outperforming radiologists who had pooled AUCs of 0.65 (95% CI [0.645-0.654], p < 0.001; fixed-effects) and 0.65 (95% CI [0.591-0.708], p < 0.001; random-effects). Furthermore, MLA achieved a sensitivity ranging from 66.9% to 91.2%, compared to 24% to 96.0% by radiologists. The specificity and accuracy of MLA ranged from 72% to 96.2% and 66% to 92.2%, respectively, compared to that of radiologists, which ranged from 43.0% to 96.0% and 51.5% to 88.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: MLAs demonstrate superior diagnostic performance in predicting ENE in HNSCC and may serve as a valuable adjunct to radiologists in clinical practice.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.009 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".