Abstract #1536

Functional MRI at ultra-high field strength (11.7 T) for evaluation of rectal cancer stromal heterogeneity ex vivo: correlation with histopathology

Trang Thanh Pham^1,2,3,4,5, Timothy Stait-Gardner⁶, C. Soon Lee^3,4,5,7, Michael B. Barton ^1,3,4, Gary Liney^1,3,4, Karen Wong^1,3,4, and William S. Price^5,6

¹Radiation Oncology, Liverpool Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia, ²Sydney West Radiation Oncology Network, Westmead, Blacktown and Nepean Hospitals, Sydney, Australia, ³Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, ⁴Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Sydney, Australia, ⁵School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia, ⁶Nanoscale Organisation and Dynamics Group, Western Sydney University and National Imaging Facility, Sydney, Australia, ⁷Anatomical Pathology, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) MRI at ultra-high field (11.7 T) was used to examine the stromal ultrastructure of malignant and normal rectal tissue ex vivo, and findings were correlated with histopathology. DTI was able to distinguish tumour from desmoplasia: tumour was found to have isotropic diffusion, whereas desmoplastic reaction or fibrous tissue had moderately anisotropic diffusion. DTI was useful in assessing depth of tumour infiltration into rectal wall: tumour was able to be distinguished from muscularis propria which was highly organised and anisotropic. This study showed that DTI-MRI can assist in more accurately defining tumour extent in rectal cancer.

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