In an attempt to identify short-term surrogate endpoints that would predict long-term survival in patients with patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, we explored the usefulness of performing restaging magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We tested the agreement between restaging MRI T (yT) and N (yN) with ypT and ypN stages, respectively, and explored the prognostic significance of restaging MRI neoadjuvant rectal (NAR) score. Restaging pelvis MRI could not predict ypT or ypN stage. The mean MRI NAR (mNAR) score was higher than the mean NAR score. There was a trend for longer DFS and OS in patients with low-intermediate mNAR score compared to patients with high mNAR scores.
