A variety of tumors involve the anal canal because the anal canal forms the transition between the digestive system and the skin, and this anatomical region is made of a variety of different cells and tissues. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the modality of choice for diagnosis and local staging of the anal canal and perianal neoplasms. In this pictorial review, we demonstrate the MRI anatomy of the anal canal and perianal region and display the imaging spectrum of tumors in the region along with an overview of its management. Imaging appearances of many tumorlike lesions that can cause diagnostic dilemmas are also demonstrated with pointers to differentiate between them.
Keywords: MRI; anal; cancer; neoplasms; perianal.
Indian Radiological Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).