[MR-endoscopic US correlation for loco-regional staging of rectal carcinoma]

To correlate findings at high-resolution MR and endoscopic US (EUS) for preoperative loco-regional staging of rectal carcinoma.

Fifty-two patients with rectal carcinoma underwent high-resolution MR imaging. Only 43 of these patients underwent EUS due to technical limitations and stenosing carcinomas. Morphological imaging features and TNM staging were evaluated for both imaging modalities. The degree of correlation and accuracy were calculated for both.

The correlation between MR and EUS was good for tumor length and thickness (r=0.7 and 0.61) for for nodal (N) staging (k=0.53). Correlation was good for T1 and T2 stages (k=0.51) and T3 stage (k=0.43) and very poor for stage 4 (k= -0.09), because no T4 lesion was detected at EUS. 81.8% of patients where T stage was over-estimated on MRI and 100% of patients where T stage was over-estimated on EUS had received preoperative radiation therapy. Therefore, results should be interpreted with caution. The predictive evaluation of tumor resectability (absence of perirectal fascia invasion) with a circumferential margin on MR> or =5 mm was 93%.

Correlation between MR and EUS was moderate for T staging, because of limitations of EUS for large tumors. Results confirm that high-resolution MRI is useful for loco-regional staging of rectal carcinoma, especially for large tumors. EUS should be limited to the valuation of superficial tumors of the rectum.