 Rectal cancer is a common form of cancer, and the treatment stratification depends on tumour and nodal stage as determined on MRI. Unfortunately, the information provided by standard T2-weighted MRI is not sufficient to accurately assess nodal involvement and tumour response after neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Additional functional information is required for reliable restaging. Diffusion-weighted imaging and gadofosveset-enhanced MRI are two new imaging techniques that have all shown great potential in rectal cancer staging. In order to provide definite evidence there is a need for a multicenter study with a large patient population. 