Spectral computed tomography parameters of primary tumors and lymph nodes for predicting tumor deposits in colorectal cancer

Table 1 Clinical and pathological characteristics of the tumor deposits+ group and tumor deposits- group, n (%)

Characteristics		TDs+ group, n = 33	TDs- group, n = 88	Total, n = 121	P value
Gender	Male	17 (51.5)	47 (53.4)	64 (52.9)	0.853
	Female	16 (48.5)	41 (46.6)	57 (47.1)
Age (years)		63.9 ± 11.6	65.2 ± 11.4	64.8 ± 11.4	0.602
CEA	Normal	11 (37.9)	55 (63.2)	66 (56.9)	0.018
	Elevated	18 (62.1)	32 (36.8)	50 (43.1)
CA19-9	Normal	18 (62.1)	65 (80.2)	83 (75.5)	0.052
	Elevated	11 (37.9)	16 (19.8)	27 (24.5)
Tumor location	Right colon	8 (24.2)	23 (26.1)	31 (25.6)	0.920
	Left colon	14 (42.4)	39 (44.3)	53 (43.8)
	Rectum	11 (33.3)	26 (29.5)	37 (30.6)
Differentiation degree	Low	7 (21.2)	10 (11.4)	17 (14)	0.127
	Moderate	25 (75.8)	72 (81.8)	97 (80.2)
	High	1 (3)	6 (6.8)	7 (5.8)
Lymph node metastasis	Negative	13 (39.4)	63 (71.6)	76 (62.8)	0.003
	Positive	20 (60.6)	25 (28.4)	45 (37.2)
T stage	T1/T2	3 (9.1)	18 (20.5)	21 (17.4)	0.142
	T3/T4	30 (90.9)	70 (79.5)	100 (82.6)
N stage	N0	0 (0)	61 (69.3)	61 (50.4)	< 0.001
	N1	27 (81.8)	23 (26.1)	50 (41.3)
	N2	6 (18.2)	4 (4.5)	10 (8.3)

Five patients' carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) results were missing; eleven patients' cancer antigen (CA)19-9 results were missing. The normal range for CA19-9 is 0-30 U/mL, and the normal range for CEA is 0-5 ng/mL. TDs: Tumor deposits; CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen; CA: Cancer antigen.

Table 2 Spectral computed tomography parameters of the tumor deposits+ group and tumor deposits- group

Parameters	TDs+ group	TDs- group	T	P value
Lymph node long diameter	10.38 ± 4.77	8.25 ± 3.11	-2.874	0.014
Lymph node short diameter	7.96 ± 3.61	6.18 ± 2.00	-3.45	< 0.001
Lymph node area	57.39 ± 42.73	38.15 ± 25.22	-3.049	< 0.001
AP-NIC-LN	0.16 ± 0.05	0.22 ± 0.08	3.57	0.085
AP-NIC-T	0.19 ± 0.04	0.18 ± 0.05	-0.977	0.497
AP-NIC-NTR	0.89 ± 0.24	1.27 ± 0.37	-5.573	0.016
VP-NIC-LN	0.48 ± 0.12	0.56 ± 0.16	2.632	0.018
VP-NIC-T	0.54 ± 0.11	0.49 ± 0.11	-2.14	0.034
VP-NIC-NTR	0.90 ± 0.15	1.16 ± 0.26	5.39	0.004

TDs: Tumor deposits; AP: Arterial phase; VP: Venous phase; NIC: Normalized iodine concentration; LN: Lymph node; T: Primary tumor; NTR: Lymph node-to-primary tumor ratio.

Table 3 Results of the receiver operating characteristic analysis of the quantitative parameters for the differential diagnosis of the tumor deposits+ group and tumor deposits- group

Parameters	AUC	95%CI	Sensitivity	Specificity	Cutoff value	P value
Lymph node long diameter	0.651	0.535-0.766	0.606	0.705	8.750	0.011
Lymph node short diameter	0.658	0.538-0.777	0.485	0.864	7.750	0.008
Lymph node area	0.647	0.531-0.763	0.515	0.773	45.419	0.013
AP-NIC-LN	0.721	0.625-0.817	0.939	0.432	0.225	< 0.001
AP-NIC-T	0.587	0.479-0.695	0.818	0.386	0.155	0.141
AP-NIC-NTR	0.812	0.730-0.895	0.879	0.648	1.145	< 0.001
VP-NIC-LN	0.634	0.528-0.740	0.879	0.364	0.610	0.024
VP-NIC-T	0.631	0.527-0.736	0.576	0.659	0.514	0.026
VP-NIC-NTR	0.803	0.724-0.881	0.909	0.614	1.090	< 0.001

AP: Arterial phase; VP: Venous phase; NIC: Normalized iodine concentration; LN: Lymph node; T: Primary tumor; NTR: Lymph node-to-primary tumor ratio; AUC: Area under the curve.

Table 4 Logistic regression analysis

	Univariate		Multivariate
	OR (95%CI)	P value	OR (95%CI)	P value
AP-NIC-LN	0.000 (0.000, 0.001)	< 0.001
AP-NIC-NTR	0.013 (0.002, 0.086)	< 0.001	0.013 (0.002, 0.086)	< 0.001
VP-NIC-LN	0.019 (0.001, 0.424)	0.012
VP-NIC-T	44.143 (1.226, 1589.062)	0.038
VP-NIC-NTR	0.003 (0.000, 0.043)	< 0.001

AP: Arterial phase; VP: Venous phase; NIC: Normalized iodine concentration; LN: Lymph node; T: Primary tumor; NTR: Lymph node-to-primary tumor ratio.