Addressing fractures that are hard to diagnose on imaging: Radiomics or deep learning?

Fractures and their complications are recognized as major public health problems. Especially for occult fractures that are difficult to judge radiologically, timely and accurate diagnosis is particularly important for the treatment and prognosis of patients. In recent years, the successful application of radiomics and deep learning in medical diagnosis has shown great potential for providing more timely and accurate diagnostic methods for occult fractures. This review provides an introduction to radiomics and deep learning, summarizes their respective characteristics in detecting occult fractures, and subsequently conducts a detailed analysis on the potential value and future prospects of integrating these two techniques to develop an enhanced approach for prompt and precise detection of occult fractures.