INITIAL EVALUATION OF THE BLADDER-TUMOR ANTIGEN TEST IN SUPERFICIAL BLADDER-CANCER

Purpose: We analyzed the value of the Bard bladder tumor antigen (BTA ) test for the diagnosis of stage Ta superficial bladder cancer and ca rcinoma in situ, and compared it to the highly sensitive bladder washi ng cytology. Materials and Methods: The BTA test is a latex agglutinat ion test that qualitatively detects the presence of basement membrane complexes in the urine. A total of 60 patients with superficial bladde r cancer underwent voided urine BTA analysis and bladder washing cytol ogies. Results: Of the patients 65% were correctly diagnosed with the BTA test compared to 32% with bladder washings, which is statistically significant (p <0.001). Conclusions: The BTA test is a noninvasive di agnostic tool that is superior to bladder washing cytology for diagnos ing superficial bladder cancer.