FILTERIMMUNOCYTOLOGY (FLIC) - CLINICAL-RE SULTS AND DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW FLIC TECHNIQUE

Several investigators have demonstrated the high sensitivity of immuno cytology in the diagnosis of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). Curren t immunocytological assays, however, are complicated and time consumin g procedures. A new assay, designated as filterimmunocytology (FLIC), simplifies the technique of quantitative immunocytology and increases the amount of assessable specimens. In a routine clinical setting 153 out of 180 consecutive specimens (85%) were assessable. The investigat ion of 76 voided urine specimens from patients without TCC and 77 spec imens from patients with proven TCC yielded a specificity of 86% and a sensitivity of 75%, respectively. Sensitivity did not correlate with tumor grade. Despite a high inter-observer variation regarding the amo unt of antigen-positive cells, a concordant attribution of the specime ns to either ''normal'' or ''abnormal'' was made in more than 95% of t he cases. Intra-observer variation was small and did not influence the test result. Our results suggest that the FLIC assay may be a valuabl e adjunct to conventional cytology. A careful prospective investigatio n of FLIC appears to be worthwhile to further define the indications f or this interesting new technique.