The value of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI for discriminating tumor deposition from metastatic lymph nodes adjacent to rectal cancer

Tumor deposits (TD) and N stage are powerful prognostic factors for predicting the overall disease-free survival of rectal cancer patients. However, rectal cancer patients with TD are not the same as those with metastatic lymph node(MLN) in terms of treatment measures and prognosis. TD has similar performance to MLN on conventional CT/MRI images, which makes it difficult to distinguish them. Results of this study indicate DCE-MRI can effectively differentiate TD and MLN adjacent to rectal cancer, and the higher Kep and lower Ve values of rectal cancer with MLN may indicate its’ more aggressive.