Fig. 3

DCA for the nomogram and the conventional forecasting methods including grade, T-stage, and tumor size in the training (A) and validation groups (B). The x-axis shows the threshold probabilities. The y-axis measures the net benefit, which is calculated by adding the true positives and subtracting the false positives. The horizontal solid black line: assumes no liver metastasis will happen; the solid grey line: assumes all patients will experience tumor liver metastasis. In DCA, the nomogram yielded a superior clinical net benefit compared with the conventional forecasting methods across a range of threshold probabilities