Colorectal cancer: Current imaging methods and future perspectives for the diagnosis, staging and therapeutic response evaluation

Figure 3 A 58-year-old female with biopsy-proven adenocarcinoma of the rectum. A: Post-contrast fat-suppressed axial T1 images show a contrast-enhancing mass (arrow), extending from rectum into the anal canal and invading the posterior aspect of the vagina; B, E: Both, the primary tumor and the lymph node metastases, show an hyperintense signal on diffusion weighted imaging; C, F: An reduced apparent diffusion coefficient reflecting the tight tumor cellularity; D: Enlarged, contrast-enhancing lymph nodes along the right iliac axis (arrow).