The evaluation of MR staging of rectal cancer by using amide proton transfer weighted (APTw) imaging

Motivation: Tumor staging is crucial for rectal cancer. Goal(s): To investigate the value of APTw imaging for rectal cancer staging. Approach: Both patients with confirmed rectal cancer and healthy volunteers as control group were included for MR scanning including APTw. Radiologists gave the T stage based on MR images with and without APTw. Statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate the diagnostical accuracy with pathological results as reference. Results: The accuracy of T staging with and without APTw on all cases with rectal cancer (n=50) was 76% and 45%, respectively. The statistical results of accuracy comparison showed significance for staging T2 (Z=-2.51, P=0.028<0.05). Impact: APTw imaging provides information on rectal cancer staging.