Radiogenomics in Renal Cancer Management-Current Evidence and Future Prospects

Renal cancer management is challenging from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up. In cases of small renal masses and cystic lesions the differential diagnosis of benign or malignant tissues has potential pitfalls when imaging or even renal biopsy is applied. The recent artificial intelligence, imaging techniques, and genomics advancements have the ability to help clinicians set the stratification risk, treatment selection, follow-up strategy, and prognosis of the disease. The combination of radiomics features and genomics data has achieved good results but is currently limited by the retrospective design and the small number of patients included in clinical trials. The road ahead for radiogenomics is open to new, well-designed prospective studies, with large cohorts of patients required to validate previously obtained results and enter clinical practice.

Automated summary

Renal cancer management poses challenges throughout the entire process from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up. The differentiation between benign and malignant tissues in cases of small renal masses and cystic lesions can be problematic, even with imaging or renal biopsy. Recent advances in artificial intelligence, imaging techniques, and genomics provide potential for helping clinicians with risk stratification, treatment selection, follow-up strategies, and prognosis. However, further prospective studies with larger patient cohorts are needed to validate previous results and implement these techniques into clinical practice.