Preoperative detection of liver metastasis from colorectal cancer: an assessment of the sensitivity of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance

• Grant number: 11/20052-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2012
• End date: March 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Radiology
• Principal Investigator: Rubens Chojniak
• Grantee: Rubens Chojniak
• Host Institution: Hospital A C Camargo. Fundação Antonio Prudente (FAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The only potentially curative treatment for patients with liver metastasis from colorectal cancer is the surgical resection. It has been found that the number of patients who may benefit from metastasectomy is greater than it was previously believed to be. However, it is essential that patient's selection and surgical planning are both made accurately, otherwise the procedure is likely to produce an increased morbidity without provide an increase in patient's survival.MRI is the most sensitive method for detection of liver metastases, however despite the improvements of the conventional techniques of imaging, none is able to detect as many lesions as it is observed during surgery assisted with intraoperative ultrasound. Limited by this condition, in our institution approximately 25% of the preoperatively planned surgical procedures had to be modified.Motivated by practical observation and initial studies on the application of diffusion-weighted MRI in the evaluation of the abdomen, we believe this is a technique that can potentially provide closer preoperative and intraoperative results.This study aims to assess the sensitivity of diffusion-weighted MRI in the preoperative diagnosis of liver metastasis of colorectal cancer in patients selected for metastasectomy. (AU)