[The usefulness of urinary FDP in the diagnosis of bladder cancer: comparison with NMP22, BTA and cytology].

PURPOSE

We assessed the utility of urine fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) as the screening test for bladder cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Single voided specimens were obtained from 87 consecutive patients (61 men and 26 women, mean age 70.7) on cystoscopy, and FDP, NMP22, BTA and cytology test were performed for the same specimens. Final diagnosis of bladder cancer was made by histological examination, which were compared with the results of above four screening methods.

RESULTS

Histologically confirmed bladder cancer was found in 14 cases. Overall sensitivity of urinary FDP, NMP22, BTA and cytology were 79, 64, 36 and 36%, respectively. While the sensitivity of FDP was significantly higher than that of BTA and cytology, no significant difference was found between FDP and NMP22. Overall specificity of these four methods were 69, 78, 92 and 90%, respectively. The specificity of FDP and NMP22 were significantly lower than that of BTA and cytology, but satisfactory as a screening test. The sensitivity of the four methods for low-grade and non-invasive tumors were 70, 50, 30 and 10% (G1 or G2, n = 10), and 75, 58, 33 and 25% (Ta or T1, n = 12), respectively. FDP might have a high sensitivity for even low-grade and non-invasive tumors.

CONCLUSIONS

FDP in voided urine is a good screening method for bladder cancer because of its high sensitivity for low-grade and non-invasive tumors, and its diagnostic ability could be superior to NMP22.