Effectiveness of the STIR turbo spin–echo sequence MR imaging in evaluation of lymphadenopathy in esophageal cancer

Purpose: We have investigated the utility of the STIR TSE sequence in the differentiation of benign from malignant mediastinal lymph nodes in patients with esophageal cancer. Patients and methods: This study included 35 consecutive patients who were diagnosed as esophageal cancer and were undergone surgery. STIR TSE sequences were obtained as the ECG trigger. The signal intensity of the benign and malign lymph nodes, normal esophagus, and pathologic esophagus can be calculated on STIR sequence. Results: Pathologically, the number of total lymph nodes in 35 operated cases was 482. Approximately 152 lymph nodes were detected with MR imaging. Of these, 28 were thought to be malignant, and 124 were thought to be benign, although 32 were malignant and 120 were benign according pathological results. The ratio of benign lymph node intensity value to normal esophagus intensity value was 0.73 ± 0.3. The ratio of malignant lymph node intensity value to normal esophagus intensity value ratio was 2.03 ± 0.4. According to these results, the sensitivity of MR was 81.3%, the specificity was 98.3%. Conclusion: We think that if motionless images can be obtained with MRI, we may be able to differentiate benign lymph nodes from malignant ones.