Support vector machines model of computed tomography for assessing lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Objective: The aim of this study was to diagnose lymph node metastasis of esophageal cancer by support vector machines model based on computed tomography. Materials and Methods: A total of 131 esophageal cancer patients with preoperative chemotherapy and radical surgery were included. Various indicators (tumor thickness, tumor length, tumor CT value, total number of lymph nodes, and long axis and short axis sizes of largest lymph node) on CT images before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy were recorded. A support vector machines model based on these CT indicators was built to predict lymph node metastasis. Results: Support vector machines model diagnosed lymph node metastasis better than preoperative short axis size of largest lymph node on CT. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves were 0.887 and 0.705, respectively. Conclusions: The support vector machine model of CT images can help diagnose lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer with preoperative chemotherapy.