Mucinous rectal adenocarcinoma and neoadjuvant therapy: Implications for surgical practice

Figure 2 Pretreatment magnetic resonance imaging of a patient with mucinous adenocarcinoma. A: Sagittal T2-weighted image showed a bulky, multilobulated rectal mass with markedly high signal intensity due to abundant extracellular mucin, extending toward the mesorectal fascia; B: Axial T2-weighted image demonstrated the same lesion with homogeneous hyperintense signal and poorly defined borders against the mesorectal fat, typical of mucinous tumors. These imaging features, high T2 signal, gelatinous internal texture, and ill-defined margins, are characteristic of mucinous histology and help differentiate mucinous adenocarcinoma from non-mucinous rectal adenocarcinoma.