Open AccessRole of Virtual Biopsy in the Management of Renal Masses
Author(s) -
Alberto Diaz de Leon,
Matthew S. Davenport,
Stuart G. Silverman,
Nicola Schieda,
Jeffrey A. Cadeddu,
Iván Pedrosa
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of roentgenology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.294
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1546-3141
pISSN - 0361-803X
DOI - 10.2214/ajr.19.21172
Subject(s) - medicine , renal mass , biopsy , radiology , histopathology , percutaneous , renal biopsy , kidney , percutaneous biopsy , pathology , nephrectomy
OBJECTIVE. Renal masses comprise a heterogeneous group of pathologic conditions, including benign and indolent diseases and aggressive malignancies, complicating management. In this article, we explore the emerging role of imaging to provide a comprehensive noninvasive characterization of a renal mass-so-called "virtual biopsy"-and its potential use in the management of patients with renal tumors. CONCLUSION. Percutaneous renal mass biopsy (RMB) remains a valuable method to provide a presurgical histopathologic diagnosis of renal masses, but it is an invasive procedure and is not always feasible. Accumulating data support the use of imaging features to predict histopathology of renal masses. Imaging may help address some of the inherent limitations of RMB, and in certain settings, a multimodal clinical approach may allow decreasing the need for RMB.