For a study, researchers sought to ascertain the relationship between cross-sectional imaging, pathological renal mass sizes, and ultrasound (US).
A group of patients from 14 academic institutions who underwent the US and cross-sectional imaging within 8 weeks of each other and within 6 months of surgery were selected between January 2011 and January 2021. Regardless of the treatment type, a second sample of patients with small renal masses (≤4 cm) who underwent the US and cross-sectional imaging within 8 weeks of each other was also studied. Sensitivity tables, Bland-Altman graphs, and correlation coefficients were produced.
The surgical cohort consisted of 1,464 patients, while the small renal mass (SRM) cohort consisted of 1,582 patients (1,921 imaging pairs). The Pearson correlation coefficients between abnormal size and computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (CT/MRI) were 0.93 (P<.0001) and 0.90 (P<.0001), respectively. There was a 0.93 (P<.0001) correlation between the US and CT/MRI. Smaller renal masses showed stronger agreement in Bland-Altman plots. When comparing US to CT/MRI results for the SRM cohort, 1,441 (75% of the measures) were within 0.5 cm, and only 149 (7.8%) were more than 1 cm apart. A subgroup study showed that patients with lower body mass index had a stronger correlation between the US and CT/MRI for SRMs.
In 75% of patients at baseline imaging, there was a significant connection between US and cross-sectional imaging. The research supported the use of the US for active surveillance.
Reference: goldjournal.net/article/S0090-4295(22)00174-1/fulltext
