What is the role of CellDetect in detecting and monitoring bladder cancer?

Purpose: Cystoscopy is the gold standard method for diagnosing and monitoring bladder cancer but it is costly, invasive, and operator-dependant. The aim is to compare the diagnostic efficacy of CellDetect with urine cytology based on cystoscopic findings.

Methods: A total of 181 patients undergoing cystoscopy for bladder cancer follow-up or any reason were studied with cytology and CellDetect by taking an urine sample before cystoscopy. Patients who had any kind of bladder procedure in less than 1 month, doubtful cystoscopy results, previous pathology of Tis or carcinoma in situ (CIS), urinary stones, and patients with urinary catheters or bladder diversions were excluded. Cytologic and CellDetect results were compared based on cystoscopic findings and sensitivity and specifity analyses were done for each method.

Results: For low-grade tumors, the sensitivity of CellDetect was 66.7% and the sensitivity of cytology was 16.7% with a significant difference ( < 0.05). For high-grade tumors, there were no significant difference between CellDetect and cytology. Generally, CellDetect had better sensitivity in both case and control groups.

Conclusion: The promising results of CellDetect particularly in low-grade tumors gives the potential for this novel stain to go widespread. Larger series, meta-analyses, and reviews need to support this topic in order to put CellDetect into daily practice.