Potential use of high-resolution T2-weighted MRI with histopathologic findings in staging esophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has shown promising capabilities in diagnosing local esophageal carcinoma. This study investigated the clinical value of high resolution (HR; small field of view and continuous thin section) axial T2-weighted MRI (HR-T2WI) as a noninvasive method for esophageal carcinoma tumor staging (T staging).

METHODS

Forty-two patients with biopsy-proven esophageal cancer were investigated using HR-T2WI. The discrepancies between the esophageal wall layers and tumor tissue were assessed for MRI T staging using a visual MRI signal intensity scale (low, intermediate, and high intensities). The computed tomography (CT) and MRI T staging was compared with whole-mount histopathological sections in all patients who underwent resection.

RESULTS

HR-T2WI provided a thorough view of the esophageal wall and the tumor's anatomic layers. Of the 42 patients with histological tumors (HTs), there were 6 cases with tumors classified as HT-1a, 5 cases with HT-1b, 14 cases with HT-2, and 17 cases with HT-3/4, and their MRI T stages were 5 MRI-T1a, 6 MRI-T1b, 14 MRI-T2, and 17 MRI-T3/4, respectively. After analyzing the imaging presentation at different HT staginess, we found that HR-T2WI enabled a more accurate classification than was possible with CT. The difference in accuracy between CT and T2WI was statistically significant (P<0.05) in the entire sample and in HT tumors and HT tumors.

CONCLUSIONS

HR-T2WI clearly identified normal esophageal wall layers; it had high diagnostic accuracy when evaluating tumor invasion and in MRI-T staging for esophageal carcinoma. This study established staging criteria of esophageal carcinoma using HR-T2WI and indicated that this approach could be used as a supplemental noninvasive method for the local T staging of esophageal carcinoma.