The Simultaneous Use of Bladder Epicheck^® and Urinary Cytology Can Improve the Sensitivity and Specificity of Diagnostic Follow-Up of Urothelial Lesions: Up-to-Date Data from a Multi-Institutional Cohort

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Bladder cancer is a prevalent urinary system malignancy and urinary cytology is widely used for its screening and follow-up. A novel diagnostic tool called Bladder Epicheck® (BE) is increasingly being used for monitoring the recurrence of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). The simultaneous use of BE and urinary cytology can increase the diagnostic performances in the follow-up of bladder neoplasms. Methods: In this multicenter study, we retrospectively evaluated the data of 322 patients in follow-up for a high-grade bladder carcinoma over a six-year period (from January 2018 to March 2024). The diagnostic performances of both cytology and BE and their combination were calculated using histology as gold standard. Results: Recurrences were diagnosed as high-grade urothelial carcinoma NMIBC in 18 cases, low-grade papillary NMIBC in 8 cases, and carcinoma in situ (CIS) in 4 cases. Cytological analysis correctly identified 26 out of 30 carcinomas, while 286 were correctly diagnosed as negative results. BE correctly identified 25 out of 30 carcinomas, 285 were correctly diagnosed as negative results. The combination of BE and urinary cytology correctly identified 29 out of 30 carcinomas, while 289 were correctly diagnosed as negative results. Conclusions: The combination of BE and cytology could be the most effective approach for follow-up diagnosis in patients with high-grade NMIBC, reducing unnecessary invasive procedures.

Keywords

• bladder cancer
• Bladder Epicheck^®
• urinary cytology