MRA Diameter as a Predictor for LLN Metastasis in Rectal Cancer.

This study aims to identify risk factors-including clinical and imaging indicators such as middle rectal artery (MRA) diameter-that may be associated with lateral lymph node metastasis (LLNM) in rectal cancer located below the peritoneal reflection, and to construct a corresponding predictive model.The main questions it aims to answer are: What factors are associated with clinically suspected lateral lymph node metastasis in rectal cancer below the peritoneal reflection? Can an effective predictive model be constructed based on these factors? Participants' clinical information has been collected for statistical analysis.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the risk factors for suspected lateral lymph node metastasis in rectal cancer below the peritoneal reflection and to construct a predictive model. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed data from 690 patients with rectal cancer below the peritoneal reflection who were treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University between January 2022 and December 2024. The original dataset was randomly divided into a training set and validation set at a ratio of 7:3. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed on the training set to identify the risk factors associated with clinical lateral lymph node (cLLN) metastasis and to construct a predictive model.