Predicting Neoadjuvant Therapy Response of Rectal Cancer With MRI

Predicting Neoadjuvant Therapy Response of Rectal Cancer With MRI

The purpose of this study is to investigate if MRI scans performed after neoadjuvant radiotherapy can predict the therapeutic response of rectal cancer following preoperative chemo-radiotherapy. This will help doctors to better tailor treatments for rectal cancer in the future.

We proposed to constructed multi-parameter predictive model for predicting therapeutic response and pathological complete response(pCR) of patients with rectal cancer who received neoadjuvant chemoradiation. MR radiomics,convolutional neural networks, morphological parameters and quantitative functional parameters derived from diffusion-weighted MR images will be integrated for model construction.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age > 18 years
• T3/4 or node positive biopsy-proved primary rectal cancer
• Suitable for pre-operative chemoradiotherapy and surgical resection
• No contraindication to MRI
• Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document

Exclusion Criteria:

• History or concurrent of other cancer
• Previous therapy to pelvis
• Unable/unwilling to have MRI
• Pacemaker or implanted defibrillator
• Pregnancy, lactation or inadequate contraception
• Patients with a history of psychological illness or condition such as to interfere with the patient's ability to understand requirements of the study
• Unwilling or unable to give informed consent