Strengths and weaknesses of dark-lumen MR colonography: Clinical relevance of polyps smaller than 5 mm in diameter at the moment of their detection
✍ Scribed by Waleed Ajaj; Stefan G. Ruehm; Guido Gerken; Mathias Goyen
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2006
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 418 KB
- Volume
- 24
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1053-1807
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Purpose
To assess the clinical relevance of dark‐lumen MR colonography (MRC) for the detection of colorectal lesions using conventional colonoscopy (CC) and histopathologic examinations as reference standard.
Materials and Methods
A total of 72 patients underwent MRC and CC. MRC was performed using a contrast‐enhanced high spatial resolution T1 weighted 3D volumetric interpolated breathhold examination (VIBE)‐sequence. All removed colorectal lesions were evaluated by an experienced pathologist.
Results
CC confirmed 65 polyps less than 5 mm in diameter. Non of those lesions could be detected using MRC. Just two (4%) of the 49 removed lesions smaller than 5 mm showed signs of dysplasia. Additionally, CC confirmed 25 polyps between 6–15 mm in diameter (MRC 22). All those 25 lesions were removed in CC. Only four (16%) of those polyps showed signs of dysplasia and malignancy (11, 13, 13 and 15 mm).
Conclusion
Dark‐lumen MRC failed to detect all polyps smaller than 5 mm in diameter which are generally not clinically relevant at the moment of their detection and thus can be kept under surveillance. However, MRC as a non‐invasive imaging modality is a promising alternative to CC in the detection of clinically relevant polyps larger than 5 mm in diameter. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.