MR endoscopy: Preliminary experience in human trials

The authors performed local staging of esophageal and rectal cancer (without pathologic correlation) with use of a nonferromagnetic magnetic resonance (MR) endoscope with a 3-cm-long receive-only coil embedded in its tip in 16 patients (eight with esophageal cancer and eight with anorectal cancer). MR endoscopy was performed with T1-weighted, fast-spin-echo T2-weighted, and frequency-selective fat-saturated T1-weighted gadolinium-enhanced sequences. Results with spin-echo sequences were optimal in all cases. All neoplasms were accurately depicted and staged with the MR endoscope.