Diagnostic radiology has an integral role in the diagnosis and treatment of the urologic patient. The initial diagnosis for multiple urologic conditions depends highly on the radiologist’s report. There are many key factors that can help the urologist then develop a treatment plan. For example, stones are commonly diagnosed and assessed using computerized tomography (CT) scans. Key details a urologist needs for the treatment of their patients include stone size in three dimensions, Hounsfield units (HU), stone composition, associated hydronephrosis, and forniceal rupture location for all stones, not just the largest stone. The use of all three dimensions for stones can help avoid the under-representation of stone burden, which can occur when a ureteral stone is measured in the axial plane and fails to convey the significance of the length of the stone. For instance, a 6 mm ureteral stone is present within the proximal ureter. The report failed to mention that the stone is approximately 1.2 cm in length on the coronal image. Therefore the probability of the patient passing the stone is less and may warrant a different management plan.

Oncology is another subspecialty where imaging plays a major role in the care pathway for patients. The use of new imaging techniques in magnetic resonance imaging has improved the differentiation of multiple types of renal masses. The radiologist is now able to quantify imaging characteristics of different types of renal cell carcinoma using peak enhancement, chemical shift imaging, diffusion weighted imaging and other sequences [1–5].