An association was found without reaching statistical significance (P=0.58) Figure 2. Figure 2 Relation between volume

reduction and pathologic response grade. Correlation between metabolic response by PET/CT scan and pathologic TRG was also studied. A positive but poor correlation was observed (rho =0.32; Spearman test) and without statistical significance (P=0.25). Discussion Currently, one of the most intriguing challenges in the management of patients with LACC is the way to select those who may benefit most from a neoadjuvant strategy. In this sense, the selleck chem Imatinib Mesylate accuracy of imaging seems critical. Reported accuracy rates for CT in the preoperative staging of colon Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical cancer range between 41% and 82% (11-14). In recent years, the use of oral and rectal contrast agents has improved the determination Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of the depth of invasion through the colonic wall, and MDCT has provided the additional PF-2341066 capability of using thin collimation that offer an improved quality of MPRs and better spatial resolution. Despite thin sections, however, an intrinsic limitation of CT is the lack of visualization of the individual wall layers. The sensitivity of CT in detection of primary colon cancer is variable and depends on the size of the tumor. In this study we have found an accuracy

of 62% (27/44) for T stage, within the range of Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical that reported in the literature (15-17). Another limitation of the CT staging Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical relies on its inability to definitively distinguish metastatic lymph nodes. Small nodes may harbor tumor, and enlarged nodes may not. As expected, the sensitivity of CT for detection of malignant nodes decreased when applying the 1-cm threshold instead of a 0.8-cm threshold. Accuracy rates for N stage in recent papers range between 22% and 77% (17-19). In the present work, an accuracy of 87% (38/44) was achieved for N stage. 18F-FDG

PET Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is a molecular imaging technique that visualizes and quantifies metabolic processes in cancer cells. PET has experienced an explosive growth as a diagnostic modality, especially in the realm of oncology for tumor staging, restaging, surveillance of recurrence and monitoring treatment response (20-22). PET/CT scans provide fused functional and morphological imaging, overcoming the Carfilzomib lack of anatomical information of FDG-PET. There is an increasing interest in the role of FDG-PET for the prediction of tumor response to therapy, as it has been shown in lymphomas and esophageal cancer (23-26). Predictors of response in LACC are eagerly awaited due to the presumed favorable prognostic value of a complete response to neoadjuvant therapy in terms of improved survival times and the possibility of performing less aggressive surgical approaches (27-29).