IMAGING-PATHOLOGIC CORRELATION IN PREOPERATIVE TUMOR STAGING: A RADIOLOGIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Staging a tumor properly before the surgery is crucial to make a decision on ways to treat the tumor, predict the effectiveness of treatment and make the optimal surgical plan.  This study has cautiously evaluated the relationship of multimodal radiologic imaging such as contrast enhanced computer tomography, high resolution magnetic resonance imaging, and targeted ultrasonography, and subsequent histopathological outcome of a heterogeneous group of solid tumors.  The results showed that MRI had the best overall sensitivity (up to 92%) in assessing the extent of local tumors, particularly when it involved soft-tissue dominant cancers, but that CT had a better specificity (87) in detecting regional nodal involvement.  Ultrasonography displayed moderate accuracy but presented important real time characterisation of the superficial lesions.  Pathologic analysis revealed that in 18% of cases, imaging had slightly underestimated microscopic tumor infiltration, and in 9% cases, excessive extraregional dissemination, which showed the need to integrate morphologic and functional imaging biomarkers and histologic validation.  The general consensus of the imaging and pathological staging was over 80%. Tumors with clear margins and minimal stromal invasion were observed to be the best agreement.  These results highlight the crucial role of imaging-pathologic correlation in enhancing diagnostic assurance, maximising preoperative staging procedures and enabling precision-based clinical decision-making during oncologic care.