Combined nomogram for differentiating adrenal pheochromocytoma from large-diameter lipid-poor adenoma using multiphase CT radiomics and clinico-radiological features.

Background and objective: Adrenal incidentalomas (AIs) are predominantly adrenal adenomas (80%), with a smaller proportion (7%) being pheochromocytomas(PHEO). Adenomas are typically non-functional tumors managed through observation or medication, with some cases requiring surgical removal, which is generally safe. In contrast, PHEO secrete catecholamines, causing severe blood pressure fluctuations, making surgical resection the only treatment option. Without adequate preoperative preparation, perioperative mortality risk is significantly high.A specialized adrenal CT scanning protocol is recommended to differentiate between these tumor types. However, distinguishing patients with similar washout characteristics remains challenging, and concerns about efficiency, cost, and risk limit its feasibility. Recently, radiomics has demonstrated efficacy in identifying molecular-level differences in tumor cells, including adrenal tumors. This study develops a combined nomogram model, integrating key clinical-radiological and radiomic features from multiphase CT, to enhance accuracy in distinguishing pheochromocytoma from large-diameter lipid-poor adrenal adenoma (LP-AA).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 202 patients with pathologically confirmed adrenal PHEO and large-diameter LP-AA from three tertiary care centers. Key clinico-radiological and radiomics features were selected to construct models: a clinico-radiological model, a radiomics model, and a combined nomogram model for predicting these two tumor types. Model performance and robustness were evaluated using external validation, calibration curve analysis, machine learning techniques, and Delong's test. Additionally, the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, decision curve analysis, and five-fold cross-validation were employed to assess the clinical translational potential of the combined nomogram model.

Results: All models demonstrated high diagnostic performance, with AUC values exceeding 0.8 across all cohorts, confirming their reliability. The combined nomogram model exhibited the highest diagnostic accuracy, with AUC values of 0.994, 0.979, and 0.945 for the training, validation, and external test cohorts, respectively. Notably, the unenhanced combined nomogram model was not significantly inferior to the three-phase combined nomogram model (p > 0.05 in the validation and test cohorts; p = 0.049 in the training cohort).

Conclusions: The combined nomogram model reliably distinguishes between PHEO and LP-AA, shows strong clinical translational potential, and may reduce the need for contrast-enhanced CT scans.

Clinical trial number: Not applicable.