A machine learning-based decision support tool for standardizing intracavitary versus interstitial brachytherapy technique selection in high-dose-rate cervical cancer.

Abstract

Purpose: To develop and evaluate a machine-learning (ML) decision-support tool that standardizes selection of intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) versus hybrid intracavitary/interstitial brachytherapy (IC/ISBT) in high-dose-rate (HDR) cervical cancer.

Methods and materials: We retrospectively analyzed 159 HDR brachytherapy plans from 50 consecutive patients treated between April 2022 and June 2024. Brachytherapy techniques (ICBT or IC/ISBT) were determined by an experienced radiation oncologist using CT/MRI-based 3-D image-guided brachytherapy. For each plan, 144 shape- and distance-based geometric features describing the high-risk clinical target volume (HR-CTV), bladder, rectum, and applicator were extracted. Nested five-fold cross-validation combined minimum-redundancy-maximum-relevance feature selection with five classifiers (k-nearest neighbors, logistic regression, naïve Bayes, random forest, support-vector classifier) and two voting ensembles (hard and soft voting). Model performance was benchmarked against single-factor rules (HR-CTV > 30 cm³; maximum lateral HR-CTV-tandem distance > 25 mm).

Results: Logistic regression achieved the highest test accuracy 0.849 ± 0.023 and a mean area-under-the-curve (AUC) 0.903 ± 0.033, outperforming the volume rule and matching the distance rule's AUC 0.907 ± 0.057 while providing greater accuracy 0.805 ± 0.114. These differences were not statistically significant. Feature-importance analysis showed that the maximum HR-CTV-tandem lateral distance and the bladder's minimal short-axis length consistently dominated model decisions.​ CONCLUSIONS: A compact ML tool using two readily measurable geometric features can reliably assist clinicians in choosing between ICBT and IC/ISBT, thereby reducing inter-physician variability and promoting standardized HDR cervical brachytherapy technique selection.