Prognostic aspects of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in synchronous distant metastatic rectal cancer

To explore the correlations between DCE-MRI quantitative parameters and synchronous distant metastasis and the clinicopathological factors in rectal cancers. Sixty-three patients with rectal cancer (synchronous distant metastasis, n = 31; non-metastasis, n = 32) were enrolled in this study. Student's t test and ANOVA were used to compare DCE-MRI parameters (K (trans) , K (ep) and V (e) ). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to find the reasonable threshold of DCE-MRI parameters to differentiate lesions with synchronous distant metastasis from those without metastasis. The K (trans) , K (ep) , and V (e) value were significantly higher in the lesions with distant metastasis than in the lesions without distant metastasis (0.536 +/- 0.242 vs. 0.299 +/- 0.118 min(-1), p < 0.001; 1.598 +/- 0.477 vs. 1.341 +/- 0.390 min(-1), p = 0.022; and 0.324 +/- 0.173 vs. 0.249 +/- 0.091, p = 0.034; respectively). The K (trans) showed the highest AUCs of 0.788 (p < 0.001), with sensitivity of 61.29 % and specificity of 87.5 %, respectively. DCE-MRI parameters may represent a prognostic indicator for synchronous distant metastases in patients with rectal cancer. aEuro cent The K (trans) , K (ep) and V (e) values correlated with synchronous distant metastasis. aEuro cent Higher K (trans) , K (ep) and V (e) values were noted among patients with metastasis. aEuro cent DCE-MRI parameters might represent a prognostic indicator for synchronous distant metastases.