Rectal Cancer: Local Staging Using Combined Pelvic Phased-Array and Endorectal Coil MRI

Purpose: We aim to assess the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in staging rectal cancer using pelvic phased array coil alone and both pelvic phased array and endorectal coils with comparison of the two techniques.Material and Methods: 50 consecutive patients (30 men and 20 women) with primary rectal cancer were examined with either pelvic alone or pelvic and endorectal MRI for preoperative evaluation of tumor extent. The results of the examinations were compared with the histopathology of resected specimens. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of combined endorectal and pelvic MRI and pelvic MRI alone in identifying the depth of tumor penetration and the number of regional lymph nodes were calculated.Results: Considering T3 staging, our study showed that MRI is 92% accurate while, it was 94% accurate in the assessment of pelvic organ infiltration (T4). The overall accuracy for T staging was 90%. Also in the assessment of perirectal lymph node involvement MRI proved to have high accuracy (86%), as compared to the post operative pathological results. On comparing the results of the two different techniques used in this work, we found no significant difference in relation to the post operative pathological data.Conclusion: We can conclude that MRI is of high diagnostic value in establishing the best treatment strategy for cancer rectum patients.