Enter Your Email Address to Receive a
Copy of MedicExhange Member Demograhpics

A combination of high-resolution and ultra-fast sequences at 3 Tesla allows for high accuracy of pre-operative rectal cancer staging, says Dr. Ursula Jaeger, from the University Hospital in Bonn, Germany, who led an study presented at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) on Tuesday.

Her team compared high-resolution (HR) T2w sequences for local staging of rectal cancer to clinical staging using conventional and ultra-fast sequences in standard and 'rectal angulations'. Tumor detection, delineation, local staging, image quality, contrast, lymph nodes and associated findings were assessed. Readings by two radiologists in consensus used a 5-point-scale and was compared to clinical staging.

The investigation of 25 patients showed that all endoscopic diagnosed tumors were detected by MRI. In 5/25 patients, only MRI detected T3-tumor stage which was confirmed later by surgery after neoadjuvant treatment.

"Conventional HR sequences allowed for better detail delineation, similar contrast but more image artifacts than ultra-fast HR sequences", said Dr. Jaeger. They improved especially lymph node imaging.

In 30 per cent of the cases pre-operative MRI had clinical significant impact on tumor treatment respectively on patient's outcome.