Bladder diseases and imaging methods

New and exciting diagnostic modalities which substantially change the evaluation of the urinary bladder have become available in the last decade. This is a review of the principles involved in and the advantages of diagnostic imaging using the modalities available to study the urinary bladder in a modern radiologic facility. It emphasizes the values of the different modalities in specific disease states. Excretory urography, cystography, and voiding cystourethrography were the mainstay of the evaluation of bladder pathology. These modalities are still good screening methods under certain circumstances but are relatively limited in comprehensive assessment of the bladder. Bladder studies using radionuclides, such as nuclear cystography, still have a space in the long-term follow-up of pediatric patients due to their relative low radiation dose. Since the addition of ultrasonography, computed tomography, and more recently, magnetic resonance imaging to the radiologist's armamentarium of imaging modalities, there has been a tremendous improvement not only in the demonstration of bladder abnormalities, but also in the staging of bladder neoplasms. The relative merits of these past and present imaging modalities are illustrated. Their appropriate contributions to improved quality of care of patients with bladder disease are also discussed.