Giuseppe
Petralia1, Gloria Castellazzi2, Paul Summers1,
Roberto Di Filippi1, Moreno Pasin2, Maria Giulia
Zampino3, Maria Cristina Leonardi4, Antonio Chiappa5,
Stefano Viotti1, Luke Bonello1, Massimo Bellomi1
1Radiology,
Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milan, Lombardia, Italy; 2Struttura
Complessa di Radiologia/Diagnostica per immagini, Istituto Neurologico IRCCS-
Fondazione Casimiro Mondino, Pavia, Lombardia, Italy; 3Medical
Care Unit, Department of Medicine, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milan,
Lombardia, Italy; 4Radiotherapy, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia,
Milan, Lombardia, Italy; 5General and Laparoscopic Surgery,
Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milan, Lombardia, Italy
We
prospectively monitored changes in contrast agent pharmacokinetics values in
advanced rectal adenocarcinoma over the course of neoadjuvant chemoradiation (NACR)
therapy using dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI)
and evaluated whether DCE-MRI findings correlated with response to NACR in 20
patients. ANOVA revealed no inter-group differences (complete responders, non
responders, local downstaging) for mean
pre- and post-therapy values, and no changes in values during therapy.
T-tests showed significant differences in post-therapy median Ktrans and IAUC60 and in fractional change of Kep between
complete and non-responsive groups. Median values of Ktrans and Kep
significantly decreased, whilst Ve significantly increased post-therapy.