Abstract Background: Urinary bladder cancer is the fourth com-monest among males and the tenth among females. It has a high recurrence rate necessitating proper initial management. MRI is a very valuable imaging tool with high tissue contrast and multi-planar imaging abilities thus allowing better tissue characterization. Aim of Study: Is to evaluate the value of diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI-DWI) in the diagnosis and staging of urinary bladder carcinoma, with pathological diagnosis taken as the reference. Patients and Methods: In this study, 40 patients with suspected urinary bladder masses performed pelvic MR im-aging. All patients were scheduled for variable MR sequences including T2WIs and DWIs. Results: Regarding the detection of urinary bladder car-cinoma the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for differen-tiating superficial from invasive tumors using T2 images alone and combined use of T2 and DW images were 62.5%, 66.7%, 63.2% and 100%, 100%, 100% respectively. Conclusion: DW-MRI is a safe, quick accurate sequence that can accurately detect and local stage urinary bladder carcinoma. In addition, DW images can predict the histological grade of the tumor decreasing the need for biopsy.