Usefulness of multi-parametric MRI for diagnosis of invasive urothelial cancer: Case reports of bladder and ureteral cancer.

The presence or absence of metastasis has critical implications for therapeutic decision-making in urothelial cancer (UC). Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) utilizing anatomic T1- and T2-weighted images has modest efficacy in detecting lymph node and distant metastases in UC. However, incorporation of functional techniques including diffusion weighted imaging and dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging, may improve the accuracy of lesion detection and staging. Multiparametric (mp)MRI is widely used in the imaging of prostate and breast cancers, though its usefulness in UC has yet to be fully elucidated. The present study reports on mpMRI in the context of two cases of bladder and ureteral cancer, and imaging results with pathological diagnosis.