Magnetic resonance imaging-based lymph node radiomics for predicting the metastasis of evaluable lymph nodes in rectal cancer

Table 2 Baseline characteristics of lymph nodes in the training and validation sets

Features	Training set			Validation set
	NLNM, n = 111	LNM, n = 78	P value	NLNM, n = 47	LNM, n = 34	P value
Size
Short axis1 in mm	6.10 (5.40, 7.20)	7.80 (6.60, 9.00)	< 0.001	5.70 (5.10, 7.40)	7.25 (6.57, 8.67)	< 0.001
Long-axis in mm	7.63 ± 1.72	9.13 ± 1.94	< 0.001	7.55 ± 1.79	8.67 ± 1.43	0.004
Shape			0.105			0.185
Non-round	82 (73.88)	29 (37.17)		31 (65.95)	27 (79.41)
Round	29 (26.12)	49 (62.83)		16 (34.04)	7 (20.59)
Margin			< 0.001			0.001
Clear	55 (49.54)	13 (16.67)		24 (51.00)	4 (14.70)
Unclear	56 (50.46)	65 (83.33)		23 (49.00)	30 (85.30)
T2WI heterogeneous signal			< 0.001			0.029
Absent	63 (56.76)	17 (21.79)		25 (53.19)	5 (14.71)
Present	48 (43.24)	61 (78.21)
Patterns of enhancement			< 0.001			< 0.001
Homogeneous	65 (58.55)	8 (10.26)		32 (68.08)	8 (23.52)
Heterogeneous	46 (41.45)	70 (89.74)		15 (31.92)	26 (76.48)
Radiomics score	-1.28 ± 1.28	0.62 ± 1.41	< 0.001	-1.29 ± 1.27	0.60 ± 1.60	< 0.001

¹Data are n (%) or median (IQR).

LNM: Lymph node metastasis; NLNM: Non-lymph node metastasis; T2WI: T2-weighted imaging.