Pre-treatment magnetic resonance imaging in anal cancer: large-scale evaluation of mrT, mrN and novel staging parameters

In patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the anus (SCCA), magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is recommended for pre-treatment staging prior to chemo-radiotherapy (CRT), but large-scale evaluation of its staging performance is lacking.

We re-characterised pre-treatment MRs from 228 patients with non-metastatic SCCA treated consecutively by CRT (2006–2015) at one UK cancer centre. We derived TN staging from tumour size (mrTr) and nodal involvement (mrN), and additionally characterised novel beyond TN features such as extramural vascular invasion (mrEMVI) and tumour signal heterogeneity (mrTSH). Primary outcomes were 5-year overall survival (OS) and 3-year loco-regional failure (LRF). Time-to-event analyses used Kaplan-Meier estimates; Hazard Ratios (HRs) with confidence intervals (CIs) were derived from Cox models.

With a median follow up of 60.9 months, 5-year OS was 74%. Poor OS was associated with increasing mrT (HR: 1.12 per cm [95% CI: 1.07–1.33]), nodal positivity (HR 2.08 [95% CI 1.23–3.52]) and mrEMVI (HR 3.66 [95% CI: 1.88–7.41]). 3-year LRF rate was 16.5%. Increased LRF was associated with increasing mrT (HR: 1.43 per cm [95% CI: 1.26–1.63]), nodal positivity (HR 2.70 [95% CI 1.39–5.24]) and mrTSH (HR 2.66 [95% CI 1.29–5.48]).

In SCCA, the study demonstrates that mrT and mrN stages are prognostic, while mrEMVI and mrTSH may be novel prognostic factors.