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Figure 7. (a) T1 weighted (repetition time (TR)=500 ms, echo time (TE) 10 ms) and (b) T2 fast spin echo (FSE) (TR>3000 ms, TE 105 ms) axial images of rectal tumour. The bowel wall layers cannot be seen on the T1 weighted images. Vessels (arrowhead), lymph node (arrow), tumour (open arrow) and muscle coat (curved arrow) all return very similar signal intensities making distinction between structures difficult on the T1 weighted image. This compares with the T2 weighted image, which shows clear separation of tumour and bowel wall layers due to high inherent tissue contrast.
