[Possibilities and departure points for quantitative cytologic evaluation of urothelial cells for cancer diagnosis using microscopic procedures and digital image processing].

Examination of exfoliated urothelial cells present in the urine has been shown to be useful by cytologists, but urinary cytology is not yet widely accepted for routine diagnostic purposes. The accuracy of urinary cytology is almost limited to high-grade transitional carcinoma (grade II-III), but is of limited value in the diagnosis of benign papilloma and low-grade tumors (grade I). The sensitivity of cytology would be increased from 50% to 80% by using a computer-based cytophotometric microscope, especially in differentiating grade I tumors.