Abstract #1067

An Initial Evaluation of the Role of Diffusion Weighted Imaging in the Nodal Staging of Rectal MRI

Gillian Macnaught¹, Fat-Wui Poon², S. Viswanathan¹, Y-T Sim³, M. Digby³

¹Radiology Department, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom; ²Radiology Department , Glasgow Royal Infirmary, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom; ³Radiology Department, Stobhill Ambulatory Care Hospital, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

Two radiologists assessed the lymph nodes of rectal cancer patients on T2 Turbo Spin Echo (TSE) images. Nodes that had an irregular boundary and inhomogeneous signal were assigned as suspicious of malignancy. The nodes visualised on the TSE images were identified on the corresponding Diffusion Weighted (DW) images and Apparent Diffusion Coefficients (ADCs) were calculated. An unpaired t-test indicated a significant difference (p-value 0.04) in the mean ADC values of nodes agreed by both radiologists to be either benign (0.970.17mm2/s) or suspicious (0.770.08 mm2/s). This indicates the potential of DWI to determine the malignancy of nodes in rectal cancer patients.