Beyond Bone Density Alone: Opportunistic Identification of Vertebral Compression Fractures in Breast Cancer Survivors Using Artificial Intelligence-Derived Vertebral Bone Density and Paraspinal Muscle–Fat Metrics

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate whether artificial intelligence-derived vertebral volumetric bone mineral density (AI-vBMD) and paraspinal intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) ratio from routine computed tomography (CT) could identify moderate-to-severe vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) in breast cancer survivors, and whether paraspinal IMAT ratio and routinely available clinical variables improved diagnostic performance. Methods: This retrospective study included 275 women with breast cancer who underwent routine non-contrast CT and lumbar quantitative computed tomography (QCT). Hounsfield unit-derived volumetric bone mineral density (HU-vBMD) was derived using a QCT-referenced HU-to-vBMD conversion equation, whereas AI-vBMD and paraspinal IMAT ratio were extracted using automated software. Moderate-to-severe VCF was defined as Genant grade ≥ 2. Agreement with QCT-vBMD was assessed using correlation, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and Bland–Altman analysis. Model discrimination was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic analysis and DeLong tests. Results: Moderate-to-severe VCF was present in 75 patients (27.3%). HU-vBMD and AI-vBMD showed excellent agreement with QCT-vBMD (ICC, 0.978 and 0.987, respectively). AI-vBMD outperformed HU-vBMD for identifying VCFs (AUC, 0.738 vs. 0.714; p < 0.001). IMAT ratio showed comparable standalone discrimination to AI-vBMD (AUC, 0.760 vs. 0.738; p = 0.604). Adding IMAT ratio to AI-vBMD improved discrimination (AUC, 0.786 vs. 0.738; p = 0.038). The full model incorporating clinical covariates achieved the highest AUC (0.828; 95% CI, 0.778–0.878). Conclusions: AI-vBMD and paraspinal IMAT ratio automatically extracted from routine CT improved the diagnostic assessment of prevalent moderate-to-severe VCFs in breast cancer survivors. This study supports an automated CT-based approach that integrates vertebral bone density and paraspinal muscle–fat information for opportunistic identification of clinically relevant VCFs.