Urinary bladder cancer test: A new urinary tumor marker in the follow-up of superficial bladder cancer

Objectives. To study the diagnostic performance of the Urinary Bladder Canc er (UBC) test in patients with superficial bladder carcinoma. Methods. One hundred one patients in follow-up for superficial bladder canc er (pTa, pT1, carcinoma in situ] were recruited for this study. Each patien t underwent cystoscopy and transurethral resection or biopsy, with subseque nt histologic confirmation in the case of abnormalities. In addition, speci mens were assessed with an immunoenzymometric assay for cytokeratin express ion (the UBC test), and the urinary creatinine concentration was determined to correct for different degrees of urinary dilution. Different methods we re applied to calculate the diagnostic value of the UBC test. Results. Both noncorrected and corrected median values of the UBC test were comparable between patients with and without a recurrent bladder tumor. Th e overall sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive va lues of the noncorrected UBC test was 20.7%, 84.7%, 35.3%, and 72.6%, respe ctively. For the corrected UBC test, the corresponding values were 20.7%, 7 9.2%, 28.6%, and 71.3%. The area under the receiver operating characteristi c curve was not significantly different from 0.50, indicating no diagnostic value of the UBC test in this study. Conclusions. The diagnostic value of this new urinary marker appears insuff icient for the follow-up of patients with superficial bladder cancer. UROLO GY 56: 787-792, 2000. (C) 2000, Elsevier Science Inc.