New Bladder Cancer
Test Promising
An experimental
urine test appears to be a promising new way to detect early stages
of bladder
cancer. It also may apply to techniques in testing for other
types of cancers,
including colon
and prostate.
The
test works by detecting a protein that cancer cells shed in high
quantities into urine. Researchers at Cambridge University in
England say the test could spare patients the need for risky
surgical biopsies.
Normally,
people don't realize they may have bladder cancer until they consult
a doctor about blood in their urine. But physicians only catch about
one in 20 cases of bladder cancer, even though the tumors at that
point may be large, researchers
say.
In the study,
researchers studied 36 patients who had blood in their urine. The
urine test accurately detected the eight patients whose biopsies
later confirmed they had bladder cancer. A ninth patient did show a
false-positive, but that patient had an ulcer.
The
study appears in the Oct. 30 issue of The
Lancet.
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