Quantitative aspects of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in rectal cancer response to neoadjuvant therapy

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the added value of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) in patients with rectal cancer who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT). The use of DW-MRI for response evaluation in rectal cancer still remains a widely investigated issue, as the accurate detection of pathologic complete response (pCR) is critical in making therapeutic decisions.

Keywords

• rectal cancer
• neoadjuvant therapy
• diffusion mri