An Algorithm for Differentiating Kidney Cancers

An algorithm for assessing solid renal masses called the kidney MR score (KMRS) proved successful in differentiating malignant lesions from benign lesions and clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) from all other lesions with high accuracy, according to a study presented at the 2022 International Kidney Cancer Symposium: North America.

In this observational study, the investigators analyzed 178 nonsyndromic patients with 202 solid renal masses (191 pathologically proven and 11 stable). Four abdominal radiologists and 4 abdominal radiology fellows independently interpreted the data and assigned a KMRS to each lesion on a 5-point scale to indicate the probability of benignity, malignancy, and ccRCC, the investigators noted.

According to the results, in distinguishing malignant lesions from benign lesions, a KMRS ≥ 4 showed a median sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of 87.5%, 69.5%, and 0.79, respectively. The investigators noted that the median sensitivity and specificity of the KMRS ≤2 in diagnosing benign lesions were 33.4% and 95.6%. Finally, a KMRS of 5 had a median sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of 72.3%, 87%, and 0.82, respectively, for diagnosing ccRCC.

“The proposed KMRS had relatively high performance for diagnosing malignant from benign lesions and ccRCC from all other lesions with good to excellent inter-reader agreement,” the researchers concluded.

Source: Surawch C, Miao Q, Suvannarerg V, et al. Differentiation clear cell renal cell carcinoma from other common malignant and benign renal masses on multiphasic MRI: a Likert based multireader analysis. Poster 11. Presented at the 2022 IKCS: North America; November 4-5, 2022; Austin, Texas.