Preoperative T staging of gastric carcinoma obtained by MDCT vessel probe reconstructions and correlations with histological findings

This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 16-row multidetector CT (MDCT) and vessel probe reconstructions in the T staging of gastric carcinoma. Fifty-three patients (39 men, 14 women, mean age 57.5) with an endoscopic diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma underwent CT examination. A hypotonic drug was administered, and the gastric walls were distended by the ingestion of 400–600 ml of water. A biphasic technique with 40-s and 70-s delay was used after endovenous contrast material injection. All patients underwent surgery, and preoperative and histological stagings were compared. The diagnostic accuracy of T staging was 68% for axial images and 94% for VP reconstructions. In the T1, T2, T3 and T4 parameter evaluation, diagnostic accuracy values were 87%, 73.5%, 81% and 96%, respectively, for axial images and 96%, 96%, 98% and 100%, respectively for VP reconstructions. MDCT is an accurate technique for the preoperative staging of gastric cancer. The VP reconstructions obtained by isotropic data can evaluate the T parameter with a higher accuracy.