Colorectal Carcinoma: Local Tumor Staging and Assessment of Lymph Node Metastasis by High-Resolution MR Imaging in Surgical Specimens

• Published in: International journal of biomedical imaging Vol. 2009; no. 1; p. 659836
• Main Authors: Yamada, Ichiro, Yoshino, Norio, Tetsumura, Akemi, Okabe, Satoshi, Enomoto, Masayuki, Sugihara, Kenichi, Kumagai, Jiro, Shibuya, Hitoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Hindawi Publishing Corporation 01.01.2009; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Accuracy; Cancer; Carcinoma; Clinical medicine; Colorectal cancer; Confidence intervals; Diagnosis; Health aspects; Lymph nodes; Lymphatic system; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; Methods; Japan
• ISSN: 1687-4188; 1687-4196
• DOI: 10.1155/2009/659836

Purpose. To assess the accuracy of high-resolution MR imaging as a means of evaluating mural invasion and lymph node metastasis by colorectal carcinoma in surgical specimens. Materials and Methods. High-resolution T1-weighted and T2-weighted MR images were obtained in 92 surgical specimens containing 96 colorectal carcinomas. Results. T2-weighted MR images clearly depicted the normal colorectal wall as consisting of seven layers. In 90 (94%) of the 96 carcinomas the depth of mural invasion depicted by MR imaging correlated well with the histopathologic stage. Nodal signal intensity on T2-weighted images (93%) and nodal border contour (93%) were more accurate than nodal size (89%) as indicators of lymph node metastasis, and MR imaging provided the highest accuracy (94%–96%) when they were combined. Conclusion. High-resolution MR imaging is a very accurate method for evaluating both mural invasion and lymph node metastasis by colorectal carcinoma in surgical specimens.