Table 1 Clinical characteristics, MRI features of patients in the training and validation group

Gender (male/female)

29/37

57/64

0.680

Age, year

53.74 ± 12.11

53.03 ± 14.58

0.740

BMI, kg/m²

24.53 ± 4.04

24.67 ± 3.78

0.820

Symptom (present or absent)

34/32

77 /44

0.011*

NLR

2.36 ± 1.35

3.02 ± 4.02

0.770

TB (< 21/ ≥ 21), μmol/L

53/11

79/12

0.490

ALT (< 40/ ≥ 40), IU/L

55/9

77/14

0.820

AST (< 40/ ≥ 40), IU/L

57/9

82/10

0.600

FBG (< 6.1/ ≥ 6.1), mmol/L

40/23

43/24

0.940

CEA (< 5/ ≥ 5), ng/ml

54/6

84/2

0.070

CA199 (< 37/ ≥ 37), U/ml

52/8

75/11

0.920

CA724 (< 5.9/ ≥ 5.9), U/ml

45/1

46/4

0.360

NSE (< 16.3/ ≥ 16.3), ng/ml

31/15

41/7

0.039*

Lymph node metastasis (N0/N1)

21/45

20/101

0.016*

Tumor location (head or neck/ body/tail)

34/18/14

45/34/42

0.096

SI on T2WI (hypointense/ isointense/hyperintense)

5/45/16

8/81/32

0.930

Maximum diameter of the tumor (< = 20/ > 20 mm)

18/48

47/74

0.040*

Tumor margin (regular/ irregular)

35/31

75/46

0.290

Exophytic growth (present or absent)

36 /30

63/58

0.600

MPDD or CBDD (present or absent)

23/43

35/86

0.403

Hyperenhancement at arterial phase (present or absent)

34/32

64/57

0.860

Homogeneity

42/24

70/51

0.440

Vascular and adjacent tissue involvement (present or absent)

15/51

16/101

0.100

Synchronous liver metastases (present or absent)

18/48

11/110

0.001*

Long axis of the largest lymph node, mm

10.02 ± 7.37

10.39 ± 6.36

0.570

Short axis of the largest lymph node, mm

6.00 ± 4.74

6.19 ± 4.21

0.710

Ratio of the long/short axis of the largest lymph node

1.77 ± 0.53

1.81 ± 0.51

0.610

Abnormal Shape of the largest lymph node (present or absent)

13/53

14/107

0.130

Number of the lymph nodes with the short axis > 5 mm

1.20 ± 1.38

1.22 ± 1.20

0.64

Number of the lymph nodes with the short axis > 10 mm

0.36 ± 0.83

0.24 ± 0.66

0.41

ADC_mean(× 10^–3 mm²/s)

1470.66 ± 497.53

1554.21 ± 544.41

0.337

ADC_max(× 10^–3 mm²/s)

2550.67 ± 1129.81

2110.37 ± 707.05

0.024*

ADC_min(× 10^–3 mm²/s)

497.08 ± 646.99

661.49 ± 560.33

0.413

Tumor volume, mm³

66,313.99 ± 259,492.01

53,698.35 ± 277,487.86

0.007*