Helical CT is invaluable in characterizing renal masses and in the preoperative staging of patients with suspected renal cell carcinoma. Equally important, however, is the role of CT in monitoring patients with renal cell carcinoma after nephrectomy. The accurate detection of recurrent disease provides key prognostic information and assists the oncologist in making treatment decisions involving either surgery or immunotherapy [1].
In this pictorial essay, we review some important clinical aspects of renal cell carcinoma, briefly discuss CT technique, and illustrate some common as well as atypical manifestations of renal cell carcinoma metastasis that may be encountered on postoperative CT surveillance.