The diagnostic value of multi-slice spiral computed tomography in patients with renal carcinoma

This study was aimed to investigate the characteristics of multi-slice spiral computed tomography (CT) image in kidney cancer patients and its clinical value in staging diagnosis of kidney cancer.

This study included 57 patients who were confirmed as kidney cancer through postoperative pathological examination; they were diagnosed within February 2014 and December 2016 in our hospital. The data obtained from multi-slice spiral CT plain scan and contrast-enhanced CT of these patients was retrospectively analyzed. Moreover, we determined the characteristics of multi-slice spiral CT image for kidney cancer and analyzed their consistency with pathological staging.

CT plain scan showed that kidney lumps were mostly found in the prominent renal contour or renal parenchyma, and they were round-like or round in shape. Among the 57 included patients, the tumors of 43 cases showed regular edges, and 14 showed irregular edges. Among the 14 cases, 10 patients had tumors with lobulated edges and 5 with spinous tumor edge. Among all the 57 patients, CT plain scan showed there were 5 cases with slightly higher density, 24 cases with mixed density, 28 cases with equal density or slightly lower density. The range of tumor diameter was 2.1-12.6 cm; the tumor diameter was smaller than 3 cm in 11 cases, 3-7 cm in 34 cases, and larger than 7 cm in 12 cases. In terms of contrast enhancement, the arterial phase was obviously enhanced in 31 cases, moderately and irregularly enhanced in 18 cases, and slightly enhanced in 8 cases. Moreover, the renal parenchymal scan showed a rapid decline in the enhancement and a further decline in the enhancement of renal pelvic tumor; the three stages of enhancement could be expressed in terms of fast forwardness and fast backwardness. A total of 33, 4, 9, and 11 cases were classified as postoperative pathological Stage I, II, III, and IV, respectively; 35, 5, 7, and 10 cases were classified as CT scan Stage I, II, III, and IV, respectively; and 34, 5, 8, and 10 cases were classified as contrast-enhanced CT scan Stage I, II, III, and IV, respectively. No significant difference was observed in the frequency of CT scan, the enhanced stage and pathological stage (P > 0.05).

CT image of kidney cancer revealed the morphological and enhanced features of this tumor. The consistency between CT stage and pathological stage was high; thus, this method can be applied as a forecasting method for pathological staging.