Clinical Utility of a Commercial 0.55 Tesla MRI System for the Evaluation of Renal Lesions

Motivation: Assessing whether 0.55T MRI can provide a viable alternative to 1.5T/3T for evaluating renal lesions. Goal(s): To assess diagnostic performance of 0.55T MRI in differentiating solid from cystic renal masses and stratifying lesions based on risk of malignancy. Approach: Retrospective study of 35 renal masses imaged at 0.55T, evaluated by radiologists in a blinded review on Likert-type scale. Results: All 0.55T MRI examinations were rated as diagnostic. Differentiation between solid and cystic renal masses was feasible, achieving moderate inter-reader agreement (k=0.68). Cystic lesion stratification using Bosniak classification demonstrated substantial agreement (k=0.80). Prediction of histology of solid renal masses showed low inter-reader agreement (k=0.29). Impact: 0.55T MRI can effectively characterize solid and cystic renal masses and risk-stratify cystic renal masses according to the Bosniak classification without compromising diagnostic accuracy.