A comparative study of magnetic resonance imaging and multi-slice spiral CT in preoperative staging of gastric carcinoma

[Objective] To investigate the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and multi-slice spiral CT (MSCT) in preoperative staging of gastric carcinoma. [Methods] MRI and MSCT were performed in 27 patients with gastric carcinoma proved by means of biopsy, and the results were compared with postoperative pathologic findings. [Results] The accuracy of MRI and MSCT in T staging was 81.5% (T1 100%, T2 57.1%, T3 81.8%, T4 100%, respectively) and 77.8% (T1 100%, T2 57.1%, T3 72.7%, T4 100%, respectively), respectively, and there was no statistical difference (P 0.05). The accuracy of MRI and MSCT in N staging was 63.6% (N0 77.8%, N1 60.0%, N2 50.0%, respectively) and 72.7% (N0 66.7%, N1 80.0%, N2 75.0%, respectively), respectively. Although there was no statistical difference(P 0.05), the accuracy for N staging and the sensitivity for lymph node metastasis with MSCT were slightly higher than those with MRI. The accuracy of MRI in M staging was equal to that of MSCT. In addition, there was no statistical difference between MRI and MSCT in the overall accuracy of TNM staging (P 0.05). [Conclusion] MRI cannot replace MSCT in preoperative staging of gastric carcinoma because of its limitation in N staging.