Imaging of renal cell carcinoma: state of the art and recent advances

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the 13th most common cancer worldwide and accounts for 4% of all adult malignancies. Herein the state of the art and recent advances in cross-sectional radiological imaging applied to RCC are reviewed, including ultrasonography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography.

Literature search of peer-reviewed papers published by October 2010.

In front of more conventional and widespread imaging tools, such as ultrasonography and computed tomography, an array of newer and attractive radiological modalities are under investigation and show promise to improve our ability to noninvasively detect renal tumors and its recurrences, accurately assess the extent of the disease, and reliably evaluate treatment response, particularly in the era of antiangiogenetic therapy.

Recent major advances in radiological imaging techniques have considerably improved our ability to diagnose, stage and follow-up RCC. Further studies are needed to evaluate the potential of most recent and still investigational imaging tools.