Renal cell carcinoma: applicability of the apparent coefficient of the diffusion-weighted estimated by MRI for improving their differential diagnosis, histologic subtyping, and differentiation grade

Background Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents the most common malignant epithelial neoplasm of the kidney. Accurate assessment of the renal masses, defining the histologic subtype and the grade of differentiation of the tumor, is vital to ensure an adequate case management as well as for staging and prognosis. Recently, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tends to be increasingly appealing for the clinicians as an imaging procedure of choice for the diagnosis and staging of the RCC, which is predetermined by several advantages over CT. The goal of the survey was to assess the applicability of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the DWI MRI for the differential diagnostics, histologic subtyping, and defining the grade of differentiation of the RCC.