title: Nodal staging in rectal cancer.
abstract: Rectal cancer is common and nodal disease is an independent adverse prognostic factor for patient survival. Accurate demonstration of the presence and location of nodal disease preoperatively may influence management strategies. In this article we review the pathways of nodal spread in rectal cancer and assessment of nodal disease using sonography, CT, and MRI. The use of morphological criteria instead of size criteria has been shown to improve nodal staging by MRI. The potential role of magnetic resonance lymphography and PET imaging in further improving nodal staging accuracy is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Academic Department of Radiology, Royal Marsden Hospital, Downs Road, Sutton SM2 5PT, UK. dowmukoh@icr.ac.uk
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Husband
mesh_terms: D003287:Contrast Media; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media