PET/MR Characterization of Renal Cell Carcinomas

Purpose: To evaluate the utility of simultaneous positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in characterizing the molecular subtypes of clear cell renal cell carcinomas (ccRCC) to potentially inform prognosis and treatment decisions. Participants: Seventeen subjects diagnosed with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) will be imaged in a single session on PET-MRI. Procedures (methods): The investigators will image 17 ccRCC subjects on simultaneous PET-MRI and quantify the metabolically-active fraction of the tumor from images. Ten core samples will be taken from each tumor post-surgery and classified as ccA or ccB subtype using transcriptome analysis. The imaging-based measures will be correlated with the fraction of tumor cores classified as ccB.