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Published on: May 8, 2018
Enhancing Rectal Cancer Staging: Integrating Abbreviated Liver MRI into Standard Rectal MRI Protocols for Improved
Purpose:
To evaluate the feasibility of an abbreviated MRI protocol for distinguishing hepatic lesions during the initial staging of rectal cancer.
Materials And Methods:
We conducted a retrospective review of 255 abbreviated liver MRI (axial T2 weighted fat-suppressed, diffusion-weighted image [using three b-values: 50, 400, and 800], apparent diffusion coefficient) in the 3T unit. Two radiologists reviewed the images by consensus interpretation. We calculated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the diagnostic yield, prevalence, specificity, and sensitivity of abbreviated MRI for hepatic metastasis.
Results:
Among the patients with too small to characterize (TSTC)-liver-on-CT, the specificity of abbreviated MRI for hepatic metastasis was 100% (20 of 20 patients; 95% CI: 0.8316-1.0000). Among patients suspected to have metastasis-liver-on-CT, the diagnostic yield of abbreviated MRI for hepatic metastasis was 90% (9 of 10 patients; 95% CI: 0.5550-0.9975), and the specificity of abbreviated MRI was 100% (1 of 1 patient; 95% CI: 0.0250-1.0000). None of the patients with TSTC-liver-on-CT-or suspected metastasis-liver-on-CT images showed unexpected hepatic metastasis at the 6-month follow-up CT.
Conclusion:
Abbreviated liver MRI is useful for diagnosing the benignity of TSTC-liver-on-CT without full-protocol MRI in patients with newly diagnosed rectal cancer.
