Diffusion-weighted MRI assessment of the peritoneal cancer index before cytoreductive surgery

Background: Patients with limited peritoneal metastases from colorectal cancer may be candidates for an aggressive surgical approach including cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC). Selection is based on surgical inspection during laparoscopy or laparotomy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) can be used to select patients for CRS-HIPEC.

Methods: This was a prospective study at a tertiary referral centre. Patients with confirmed or suspected colorectal peritoneal metastases scheduled for exploratory laparotomy or laparoscopy were eligible. Two radiologists assessed the peritoneal cancer index (PCI) on CT (CT-PCI) and DW-MRI (MRI-PCI). The reference standard was PCI at surgery. Radiologists were blinded to the surgical PCI and to each other's findings. The main outcome was the accuracy of DW-MRI in predicting whether patients had resectable disease (PCI less than 21) or not.

Results: Fifty-six patients were included in the study, of whom 49 could be evaluated. The mean(s.d.) PCI at surgery was 11.27(7.53). The mean MRI-PCI was 10.18(7.07) for reader 1 and 8.59(7.08) for reader 2. Readers 1 and 2 correctly staged 47 of 49 and 44 of 49 patients respectively (accuracy 96 and 90 per cent). Both readers detected all patients with resectable disease with a PCI below 21 at surgery (sensitivity 100 per cent). No patient was overstaged. The intraclass correlation (ICC) between readers was excellent (ICC 0.91, 95 per cent c.i. 0.77 to 0.96). MRI-PCI had a stronger correlation with surgical PCI (ICC 0.83-0.88) than did CT-PCI (ICC 0.39-0.44).

Conclusion: DW-MRI is a promising non-invasive tool to guide treatment selection in patients with peritoneal metastases from colorectal cancer.