Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Clin Oncol. Mar 24, 2026; 17(3): 114756
Published online Mar 24, 2026. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v17.i3.114756
Published online Mar 24, 2026. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v17.i3.114756
Colorectal cancer computed tomography imaging features involving microsatellite instability
Jack Stearns, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ 85004, United States
Scott McLaughlin, Tristan Kuckelman, Samantha Hutzley, Albert Chiu, Luke Kloft, School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona, A.T. Still University of Health Sciences, Mesa, AZ 85206, United States
Curtis Bay, Department of Interdisciplinary Sciences, A.T. Still University, Mesa, AZ 85206, United States
Madappa Kundranda, Division of Cancer Medicine, Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, Gilbert, AZ 85234, United States
John Chang, Department of Radiology, Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, Gilbert, AZ 85234, United States
Co-first authors: Jack Stearns and Scott McLaughlin.
Author contributions: Stearns J, McLaughlin S, Kuckelman T, Hutzley S, Chiu A, and Kloft L collected and analyzed the data as well as drafting the manuscript for publication; Stearns J and McLaughlin S worked extensively on manuscript preparation, and they contributed equally to this manuscript as co-first authors; Bay C performed the statistical analysis of the data and consulted on data interpretation; Kundranda M consulted clinical relevance and revised the manuscript; Chang J designed the experiment, revised the manuscript, and oversaw the execution of the research project. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was approved by Banner Health Institutional Review Board (approved No. 14-16-0047).
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement:
No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: John Chang, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology, Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2940 E. Banner Gateway Drive, Suite 315, Gilbert, AZ 85234, United States. changresearch1@gmail.com
Received: October 11, 2025
Revised: December 3, 2025
Accepted: February 2, 2026
Published online: March 24, 2026
Processing time: 172 Days and 10.5 Hours
Revised: December 3, 2025
Accepted: February 2, 2026
Published online: March 24, 2026
Processing time: 172 Days and 10.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Microsatellite instability in colorectal tumors tends to have right-sided and larger tumor and is less likely to have distant metastasis at the time of initial diagnosis. Therefore, if a left-sided cancer with distant metastasis is seen at initial diagnosis, it has a higher likelihood of being a microsatellite instability low tumor.