Diffusion tensor imaging of rectal carcinoma: Clinical evaluation and its correlation with histopathological findings.

•Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters of rectal carcinoma (RC) were significantly lower than those of the normal tissues.•DTI parameters of RC showed significant inverse correlations with histological grades.•DTI parameters of metastatic and nonmetastatic lymph nodes were significantly different.•DTI may be clinically useful for noninvasive evaluation of histological grade and lymph node metastasis in patients with RC.