SHUI Huili, XIE Zhenming, WU Jiao
Journal of Clinical Radiology. 2026, 45(8): 1398-1408.
Objective This study aims to conduct a systematic review to evaluate the performance of ML models in detecting Macrotrabecular-Massive Hepatocellular Carcinoma (MTM-HCC),thereby providing an evidence-based foundation for developing and refining intelligent diagnostic tools. Methods Electronic searches were conducted in PubMed,Embase,Cochrane Library,Web of Science,CNKI,VIP,CBM, and WanFang Data databases to collect studies on machine learning for detecting MTM-HCC from inception to July 21,2025.The Prediction model Risk Of Bias Assessment Tool (PROBAST) was used to assess the risk of bias. Subgroup analyses were performed based on modeling variables (non-radiomics vs. radiomics features)during meta-analysis. Results A total of 21 studies involving 3925 HCC patients,including 1092 with MTM-HCC,were included.Thirteen studies were based on non-radiomics features and 8 on radiomics features.In the validation sets, the pooled sensitivity (SEN) of all ML models was 0.75[95% CI (0.69,0.81)],specificity (SPE) was 0.78[95% CI (0.69,0.84)], positive likelihood ratio (PLR) was 3.4[95% CI (2.4,4.7)], negative likelihood ratio (NLR) was 0.32[95% CI (0.25,0.40)], diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 11 [95% CI (7,17)], and summary receiver operating characteristic curve area (SROC-AUC) was 0.80 [95% CI (0.76, 0.83)]. For ML models based on radiomics features, the pooled SEN was 0.78 [95% CI (0.71, 0.84)],SPE was 0.77 [95% CI (0.66, 0.85)], PLR was 3.4 [95% CI (2.3, 5.2)], NLR was 0.29 [95% CI (0.21, 0.38)], DOR was 12 [95% CI (7, 21)], and SROC-AUC was 0.81 [95% CI (0.78, 0.85)]. Conclusion Machine learning is feasible for detecting MTM-HCC, with radiomics models performing marginally better. It holds promise as a potential adjunctive tool for preoperative identification. Nevertheless, the quality of current evidence requires enhancement, and further optimization of model development and validation is needed to improve predictive accuracy.