Extramural vascular invasion as an independent prognostic marker in locally advanced rectal cancer: propensity score match pair analysis.

At 3 years, in the mrEMVI-positive cohort, 59% had an event and in the mrEMVI-negative cohort, 45% had an event (p = 0.026). Local control was 90.2% (12recurrences in 122 who underwent surgery), two recurrences in the mrEMVI-positive cohort and ten patients in the mrEMVI-negative cohort, which missed statistical significance (p = 0.06). Distant metastasis-free survival was significantly worse in the mrEMVI-positive cohort versus the mrEMVI-negative cohort (58.2% vs. 69.4%) (p = 0.022). Similarly, Overall survival was significantly inferior in mrEMVI-positive cohort compared to the mrEMVI-negative cohort (57% vs. 72.4%) (p = 0.02). The multivariate regression analysis confirmed the independent predictive value of mrEMVI.  CONCLUSION: Extramural vascular invasion detected through MRI is an independent risk factor for distant metastasis in the locally advanced carcinoma rectum. Aggressive treatment regimens like total neoadjuvant treatment should be considered in these cases pending randomized control studies.