Urinary chemiluminescence--an evaluation of its use in clinical practice.

It has been proposed that a substance, as yet unidentified, is excreted in the urine and acts as a chemical carcinogen. This substance during oxidative reactions will exhibit urinary chemiluminescence (UCL) and it is this release of energy in the form of light which activates the intracellular changes responsible for carcinogenesis. One hundred and seventy-seven people, 110 patients being followed up endoscopically for transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (TCCB) and 67 controls, had their UCL measured. The UCL estimations confirmed previously reported trends where those with active disease had the highest UCL (84) and the controls had the lowest (55). These results did not reach statistical significance and the wide variations of the results do not allow UCL, as yet, to be of practical clinical use.