Quantitative Aspects of Diffusion-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Rectal Cancer Response to Neoadjuvant Therapy.

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate the added value of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) in patients with rectal cancer who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT). The use of DW-MRI for response evaluation in rectal cancer still remains a widely investigated issue, as the accurate detection of pathologic complete response (pCR) is critical in making therapeutic decisions.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-three patients with locally advanced rectal cancer were evaluated retrospectively by MRI in addition to diffusion-weighted images (DWI) and its ADC pre- and post-neoadjuvant CRT.

Comparison between ultrasound and noncontrast helical computed tomography for identification of acute ureterolithiasis in a teaching hospital setting.

Context And Objective: Recent studies have shown noncontrast computed tomography (NCT) to be more effective than ultrasound (US) for imaging acute ureterolithiasis. However, to our knowledge, there are few studies directly comparing these techniques in an emergency teaching hospital setting. The objectives of this study were to compare the diagnostic accuracy of US and NCT performed by senior radiology residents for diagnosing acute ureterolithiasis; and to assess interobserver agreement on tomography interpretations by residents and experienced abdominal radiologists.