Rectal cancer is one of the most common diagnosed malignancies in the world. We present the case of a 54 years old patient, diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the rectum and unsuccessful treatment. The possible involvement of cancer stem cells in tumor relapse and treatment failure represents the motivation behind an extensive imaging evaluation. The aim of our case report was to assess the outcome of rectal cancer assessment using standard and state-of-the-art techniques, including evaluation of colorectal cancer stem cells. Our results suggest concordant outcomes of modern versus gold standard techniques but further studies are necessary to evaluate the utility during routine clinical work-up.
Keywords: cancer stem cells; confocal laser endomicroscopy; rectal cancer.