Estadificación del carcinoma de recto mediante resonancia magnética

The aim of this article is to describe the anatomical and pathological aspects of interest in staging carcinoma of the rectum, and to demonstrate a suitable method of study to locate the tumour mass and to evaluate its infiltration grade, taking the TNM classification for colorectal cancer as a reference. The use of high resolution T2-weighted sequences is ideal for this purpose, since they offer an appropriate contrast between the different rectal layers and between them and the mesorectum. Magnetic resonance is more appropriate than other techniques −echography, computed tomography− to evaluate the outlying areas and structures of the rectum, often affected by infiltration.