Noninvasive grading of clear cell renal cell carcinoma using MRI cytometry

Motivation: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) grading is essential for prognosis and treatment planning but currently relies on invasive biopsies, which have limitations and risks. Goal(s): Develop a non-invasive imaging technique to accurately assess RCC grade. Approach: We used IMPULSED, a type of MRI cytometry imaging method to measure average cell sizes in human RCC samples, and correlated these with histological tumor grade. A feasibility study was conducted on a subject with kidney cancer using a clinical 3T scanner to validate clinical applicability. Results: MRI-derived cell size estimates decreased with increasing RCC grade, aligning with histopathological features of tumor aggressiveness. Impact: This technique could reduce biopsies and improve RCC diagnosis, grading, and treatment decisions.