Study of Correlation between MRI Morphology of Primary Tumor and Extramural Vascular Invasion in Rectal Cancer

Figure 4

Examples of cord sign (CS) at the primary tumor’s edge on MRI. (a, b) Axial HRT2WI of a 69-year-old male patient with rectal cancer (pT3N1) and a 58-year-old woman with rectal cancer (PT3N0) showed multiple CS (arrow) with uneven caliber and coarse edge. (c, d) HRT2WI of a 49-year-old male patient with rectal cancer (PT3N1) demonstrated intermediate signal intensity tumor in an extramural vessel in the left wall of the rectum. The caliber of the vessel was expanded with coarse edges, and its intensity in enhanced T1WI showed a decline to some extent, which was in line with the intensity of the tumor on gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted imaging (CET1WI). (e) Corresponding micrograph of the same patient with (c, d) showing cancer thrombus in a vessel (red arrows).

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