Diagnostic performance of DCE-MRI Parameters in Distinguishing Tumor Deposits from Metastatic Lymph Nodes in Rectal Cancer

This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) derived apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) derived semi-quantitative parameters in distinguishing TD from MLN before surgical resection in RC patients. TD has some specific morphological features, including relatively larger size, lower short- to long-axis ratio, irregular shape and ill-defined border on T2-weighted MR images in rectal cancer. The combination of ADC values and parameters of DCE-MRI can help to improve the diagnostic efficiency of TD in rectal cancer.