Value of High-resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Preoperative T-staging of Rectal Cancer with Histopathologic Correlation

Objective:To investigate the accuracy of preoperative high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI) for T staging in rectal cancer using T2 weighted turbo spin-echo sequence (T2W TSE).Methods:Sixty-seven patients (surgery proved) with primary rectal cancer underwent 1.5T HR-MRI with phase-array coil.Rountinely,axial and sagittal plane with TSE T2WI and oblique-axial T2WI HR-MRI were acquired.MR findings were correlated with histology of the resected specimens.Results:The overall accuracy of HR-MRI in the diagnosis of T staging of rectal carcinoma was 85.1%.The sensitivity,specificity and accuracy was 70%,97.9% and 89.6% respectively for ≤T2 staging,90.5%,76% and 85.1% respectively for T3,and 100%,95.2% and 95.5% respectively for T4 tumors.Conclusion:High-resolution MRI is an accurate technique for the preoperative T staging of rectal cancer,it is helpful in the treatment planning.