The role of CT and MR imaging in staging lung cancer

We review the diagnostic accuracy of T-factor, and discuss the role of CT and MR imaging in staging lung cancer. CT and MR imaging show almost the same diagnostic accuracy, but currently CT is considered more useful than MR and the first diagnostic modality in staging lung cancer due to its superior spatial and time resolution. MR imaging is better than CT for the detection of pleural, chest-wall and mediastinal invasion due to its superior contrast resolution and multidirectional imaging capability. MR imaging should be used as the imaging modality to solve the specific question raised by CT, or to take the information which is difficult to get by CT.