Evaluation of phased-array coil in pre-operative MRI staging of rectal carcinoma

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of phased array coil in pre-operative MRI staging of rectal carcinoma. Methods: Forty-three patients with rectal carcinomas underwent pre-operative MRI. The appearances on MRI were correlated with histopathological findings. Results: The overall diagnostic accuracy of MRI T staging was 81.4%. The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of metastatic lymph nodes were 83.9%, 78.9% and 87.5%, respectively. The metastatic lymph nodes showed mixed signal intensity and irregular borders. Conclusion: MRI using phased array coil for staging of rectal cancer has high diagnostic accuracy. The appearance of metastatic lymph nodes on T2WI is characteristic and contributes to the diagnosis of nodal involvement in rectal cancer. (authors)