Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Kidney Cancer Subtyping and Staging

This is a pilot cross-sectional study that compares contrast enhanced ultrasound to conventional ultrasound and contrasted MRI. Eligible patients will include anyone who has suspected kidney cancer and is scheduled for surgery, up to an anticipated total of 40 participants. Subject participation will be only for the day of CEUS study. There will be no follow-up period for this study. However, if results are encouraging, a longitudinal observational study may follow, and these same subjects would be eligible for enrollment. Eligible subjects will undergo a contrast enhanced ultrasound.

Following completion of imaging, all CEUS, MRI (within 4 months) and B-mode (at time of CEUS) US studies will be de-identified. Blinded radiologists will interpret images and provide an overall assessment of risk of malignancy to each kidney using the Bosniak criteria for each kidney lesion present. The Bosniak criteria places cystic lesions into one of 5 categories (I, II, IIF, III and IV) based on lesion characteristics. CEUS based diagnosis will be compared to the diagnoses on routine B-mode US and contrast-enhanced MRI.