Computed Tomography in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

Recent developments in chemotherapy have resulted in several new drug treatments for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). These therapies have shown improved progression-free survival and are applicable to many more patients than the conventional cytokine-based treatments for metastatic RCC. Consequently imaging is playing a greater part in the management of such patients. Computed tomography (CT) remains the primary imaging modality with other imaging modalities playing a supplementary role. CT is used in the diagnosis and staging of metastatic RCC. It is used in the follow-up of patients after nephrectomy, in assessing the extent of metastatic disease, and in evaluating response to treatment. This review looks at the role of CT in patients with metastatic RCC and describes the appearances of metastatic RCC before and following systemic therapy.