Artificial Neural Network and HCC features

Tumor histological features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) strongly influence not only recurrence but also patient survival: nuclear grading and vascular invasion are considered the two most important prognostic factors but they are accurately assessable only on the pathological examination of surgical specimens and only a minority of cirrhotic patients with HCC are eligible for resection or transplantation. Percutaneous fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy can be used to characterize HCC grade but its usefulness remains controversial as the heterogeneity of the histological grade, within a single tumor, may limit the overall accuracy; in addition, it can not assess microscopic vascular invasion (MVI).Tumor size and number of lesions, assessed on surgical pathologic specimens, as well as serum alfa-fetoprotein (AFP) are the variables that were most frequently found to be associated to both tumor grade and vascular invasion. In addition, given the strict relationship reported between tumor grade and microscopic vascular invasion, histological grade is currently used as a surrogate marker of MVI. However, the interaction among these factors is complex and are known to interact in a non-linear fashion, thus, making it difficult to distinguish between classes when using the conventional linear discriminant analysis. When classes are separated by a non-linear boundary, as in the present situation, an artificial neural network (ANN) has been demonstrated to perform better than conventional discriminant analysis. Read more »

What is an Artificial Neural Network?

Artificial neural network uses computer technology to model a biologic neural system both structurally and functionally. Like its biologic counterpart, an artificial neural network consists of a set of highly interconnected processing units (neurons) tied together with weighted connections. The network itself consists of an input layer, an output layer and one or more hidden layers. The input layer comprises the data available for the analysis (e.g. various laboratory tests) and the output layer comprises the outcome (e.g. diagnosis). One of the basic characteristics of the ANN is that it learns through examples: learning is achieved through exposure of paired input-output data (training). An ANN learns to associate each input with the corresponding output, by modifying the weights of the connections between neurons. Once an input has been applied as a stimulus to the first layer of neurons it is propagated through each upper layer until an output is generated. This output pattern is then compared to the desired output and an error signal is generated: the error signal is then transmitted backwards across the net and the connection weight between neurons is updated in order to decrease the overall error of the network. As learning proceeds, the error between ANN output and the desired output decreases until a minimum is reached.

Data necessary to ANN:

1) absence of clinical, radiographic or intraoperative evidence of extra-hepatic disease or involvement of a major branch of the portal veins and attempt of curative surgery; 
2) absence of preoperative treatment such as transarterial-chemoembolization, radiofrequency ablation or percutaneous ethanol injection and absence of previous systemic chemotherapy; 
3) availability of computed tomography scan (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) not earlier than 3 months before surgery.

For further informations please visit http://www.jhep-elsevier.com; the ANN requires Microsoft Excel 2000 (or later); macro option must be activated.The software is self-installing:

DOWNLOAD: Setuphccann1.1.exe (472 Kb)

Logistic regression Model

Logistic regression model showed a significant lower accuracy (P<0.001) in predicting both tumor grade and presence of microscopic vascular invasion in comparison to arificial neural network; however, the logistic regression model correctly identifies 81% of tumor grades and 85% of MVI.