Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is becoming a useful and powerful alternative for imaging the kidneys, although computed tomography (CT) is the mainstay of renal imaging. In last years, technical limitations of MRI are being overcome gradually as imaging times become shorter and spatial resolution approaches that of CT. MRI can detect renal lesions on the order of 1 cm as well as CT scan, any lesions smaller than 1 cm would be difficult to characterize by either modality. Staging renal lesions is more complete with MRI than CT, particularly for determining local and vascular involvement, including tumor trombus formation in RCC.
In this review, we demonstrated the last point of MRI devoloping process about renal mass imaging. Renal MRI sequences and diagnostic criterias are also evaluated with current literature.