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Updated: Dec 17, 2025
Gene Regulation and Targeted Therapy in Gastric Cancer Peritoneal Metastasis: Radiological Findings from Dual Energy CT and PET/CT
Published on: January 22, 2018
Assessment of the aggressiveness of rectal cancer using quantitative parameters derived from dual-energy computed
Yi Li1, Xubin Li1, Xiaoyi Ren1
1Department of Radiology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin, Tianjin's Clinical Research Center for Cancer, China.
Purpose:
To evaluate the value of quantitative parameters derived from dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) in assessing the aggressiveness of rectal cancer.
Materials And Methods:
Seventy-eight patients with rectal cancers confirmed by pathology underwent contrasted DECT scans. The normalized iodine concentration (NIC) and normalized water concentration (NWC) of the tumor against artery and tumor sizes were measured. The quantitative parameters were compared and statistically analyzed between subgroups based on the following prognostic factors: pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels, mesorectal fascia (MRF) status, T stage (T1,2 and T3,4), N stage (N0 and N1,2), tumor differentiation grade (poor differentiation, poor-moderate differentiation, moderate differentiation, moderate-well differentiation, well differentiation), and extramural venous invasion.
Results:
The differences of NIC values between MRF-free and MRF-invaded groups (P = 0.042), between T2 and T3-4 stage groups (P = 0.044), between N0 and N+ (N1, 2) groups (P = 0.036), between poor differentiation group and other differentiated groups (P < 0.05)were respectively significant. No significant differences of NIC values existed between CEA level or extramural venous invasion subgroups. For NWC values and tumor sizes, there were no significant differences between subgroups based on the prognostic factors above all.
Conclusions:
Higher NIC value is associated with a more aggressive tumor character. NIC value may have the potential to become an imaging biomarker of tumor aggressiveness.
