Prediction of pathological prognostic factors of rectal cancer by relaxation maps from synthetic magnetic resonance imaging

Highlights: • The T₁ and T₂ values were significantly different in pathological factors of rectal cancer. • The T₂ value enables a more accurate assessment of the N stage and extramural venous invasion than the subjective evaluation. • Synthetic MRI is a promising tool for the prediction of prognostic pathological factors of rectal cancer. To explore the feasibility of relaxation maps from synthetic MRI for predicting pathological prognostic factors of rectal cancer (RC) and to compare the predictive performance of quantitative values and conventional subjective evaluation.