MR based textural analysis parameters as potential imaging biomarkers to differentiate between the mucinous and non-mucinous variants of rectal cancers.

Mucinous adenocarcinoma [MAC] is a histological subtype of colorectal cancer with a poor response to long course chemoradiotherapy [LCCRT] and an overall poor oncologic outcome. In this study, we explored the utility of pre-treatment MR texture analysis as a potential imaging biomarker to differentiate mucinous and non-mucinous variants of rectal cancer. We retrospectively evaluated 39 patients with pathologically proven rectal carcinoma on T2-w images and ADC maps. First order MRTA features including the mean and mpp derived from T2-w images at moderate and coarse texture showed statistically significant difference between mucinous and non-mucinous variants of rectal cancers. The results demonstrate that first order MRTA may help differentiate between mucinous and non-mucinous rectal cancer subtypes and select patients for individualized therapy and also potentially aid in accurate prediction of response to LCCRT.