Visual analytics for radiomics: Combining medical imaging with patient data for clinical research

The visualization and analysis of electronic health records (EHRs) are becoming increasingly relevant for clinical researchers. While the digitization of medical images is general practice today, many clinics are just starting to build up database with the related patient data, patient histories, and treatment outcomes. This paper reports on a project with a medical group of ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists. It combines medical image analysis and Radiomics with visual analytics of patient data to build, analyze, and evaluate patient cohorts. The combined visual interface for both browsing and analyzing patient data was developed in collaboration with the medical researchers. In addition to offering a new way of cohort building, our approach also provides a first comprehensive view on the EHR, including the relevant anatomy of patients. This project triggered a new effort to extend the digitized patient database from around 100 patients to the entire patient population at our partner's clinic.