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Applications of new radiological scores: the Node-rads in colon cancer staging

  • Abdominal Radiology
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A Correction to this article was published on 09 March 2024

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Abstract

Purpose

The study focuses on the evaluation of the new Node Reporting and Data System 1.0 (Node-rads) scoring accuracy in the assessment of metastatic lymph nodes (LN) in patients with colon carcinoma.

Material and methods

From April 2021 to May 2022, retrospective chart reviews were performed on 67 preoperative CT (Computed Tomography) of patients undergoing excisional surgery for colon cancer at the Polyclinic of Bari, Italy. Primary endpoints were to assess lymph node size and configuration to express the likelihood of a metastatic site adopting the Node-rads score system, whose categories of risk are defined from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). The nodal postsurgical histological evaluation was the gold standard. The relationship between Node-rads score, LN size, configuration criteria (texture, border and shape) and the presence of histological metastases was statistically evaluated.

Results

All surgical specimens examined had correlation with Node-rads score. They were significantly more likely to present nodes micrometastasis those patients with (a) spherical LN shape (82.8%), (b) with lymph node necrosis (100%), (c) irregular borders (87%) and (d) the LN short axis more than 10 mm (61.9%).

Conclusions

Our experience highlights how the Node-rads system proposes an intuitive and effective definition of criteria to standardize the lymph node radiological reports in colon cancer disease. Further studies are needed to streamline the classification of the nodal and peripheral LN in all the oncological imaging.

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Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. N. Maggialetti and C. N. Greco have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70124, Bari, Italy

    Nicola Maggialetti, Chiara Noemi Greco, Nicola Maria Lucarelli, Chiara Morelli, Valentina Cianci, Sara Sasso, Arnaldo Scardapane & Amato Antonio Stabile Ianora

  2. Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, 80138, Naples, Italy

    Dino Rubini

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  1. Nicola Maggialetti
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  2. Chiara Noemi Greco
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  3. Nicola Maria Lucarelli
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Correspondence to Chiara Morelli.

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The original online version of this article was revised: The name of the seventh author was published incorrectly as "Dario Rubini" and has now been corrected to "Dino Rubini".

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Maggialetti, N., Greco, C.N., Lucarelli, N.M. et al. Applications of new radiological scores: the Node-rads in colon cancer staging. Radiol med 128, 1287–1295 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-023-01703-9

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