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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 21, 2019; 25(35): 5233-5256
Published online Sep 21, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i35.5233
Colorectal cancer: Parametric evaluation of morphological, functional and molecular tomographic imaging
Pier Paolo Mainenti, Arnaldo Stanzione, Salvatore Guarino, Valeria Romeo, Lorenzo Ugga, Federica Romano, Giovanni Storto, Simone Maurea, Arturo Brunetti
Pier Paolo Mainenti, Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging of the National Council of Research (CNR), Naples 80145, Italy
Arnaldo Stanzione, Salvatore Guarino, Valeria Romeo, Lorenzo Ugga, Federica Romano, Simone Maurea, Arturo Brunetti, University of Naples "Federico II", Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, Naples 80131, Italy
Giovanni Storto, IRCCS-CROB, Referral Cancer Center of Basilicata, Rionero in Vulture 85028, Italy
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Pier Paolo Mainenti, MD, Academic Research, Doctor, Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging of the National Council of Research (CNR), Naples 80145, Italy. pierpamainenti@hotmail.com
Telephone: +39-347-1873089 Fax: +39-081-5457081
Received: June 18, 2019
Peer-review started: June 20, 2019
First decision: July 22, 2019
Revised: August 6, 2019
Accepted: August 24, 2019
Article in press: August 24, 2019
Published online: September 21, 2019
Processing time: 95 Days and 22.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: While encouraging progress has been made in the management of colorectal cancer (CRC), it still remains among the malignancies with higher incidence and mortality. Tomographic imaging plays a crucial role in the diagnosis, staging and evaluation of treatment responses in CRC; however, it may also conceal critical information that could guide treatment decisions. The quantitative analysis of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography/CT images could unveil novel promising biomarkers in the form of numerical parameters. These parameters, if validated in terms of their clinical significance, may contribute to redefining the role of diagnostic imaging and improving CRC management.