The MR imaging as a one-way shopping tool for detecting and staging renal tumours

Abstract

Background. Magnetic resonance imaging is one of the most attractive approaches: the technology is widely available, it is not associated with the exposure to ionizing radiation, and does not require the injection of iodinated contrast agent. High-field strength clinical magnets, high-performance gradient hardware, and ultrafast pulse sequence technology are rapidly making the vision of a comprehensive »one-stop shop« urologic MR imaging examination a reality.

Conclusions. Difficulties that remain are related to the variable protocols of the examination and, therefore, it is mandatory to standardize as much as possible the techniques that are used in order to obtain reproducible information.