HEMATURIA HOME SCREENING - REPEAT TESTING RESULTS

To determine at what interval screening should be repeated to detect b ladder cancer before it becomes muscle invasive 856 men who had 14 neg ative daily home tests for hematuria with a chemical reagent strip 9 m onths previously performed repeat tests. Of these men 50 (5.8%) had at least 1 positive test during the second 14-day screening period and 3 8 were evaluated, 15 of whom (39.5%) had significant urological pathol ogical conditions, including 8 with malignancies. Bladder cancer was n oted in 7 men, with no tumor invading the muscularis propria. The find ing of 7 bladder cancers in 856 men (0.82%) who had a negative test 9 months previously indicates that bladder cancer has a brief preclinica l duration and that testing must be repeated at least annually for scr eening to detect bladder cancer consistently before invasion occurs.