On the basis of a review of the literature and of the authors' personal experience, the usefulness was evaluated of CT and MR for the staging of lung carcinoma. Neither method was found to be useful for diagnosis; as to staging, neither is capable to distinguish between simple adhesion and infiltration of adjacent structures by the tumor. As compared to CT, MR has the advantage of showing many layers and better contrast resolution but spatial resolution is poorer. MR was superior to CT for the study of hilar lesions (easily differentiated from vessels) and for those involving the upper pulmonary sulcus. The accuracy of evaluation of the N parameter was the same for both methods whereas for the M parameter RM was more accurate than CT. Considering the wide margins for technological improvement of MR, a more important role for this method compared to CT can be hypothesized.