-
Related
Urine tests that screen for bladder cancer can help people get treated for the deadly disease before it spreads and save money by reducing the need for expensive care, US researchers reported on Monday.
The tests can detect tiny amounts of blood or certain proteins in the urine of people who look healthy but have early-stage bladder cancer, the researchers told a meeting.
"For years we've understood that screening and early detection is the best method for finding some cancers and improving survival, but there weren't any significant studies to demonstrate that for bladder cancer," said Dr Edward Messing, chairman of Urology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.
People are routinely screened for only a few cancers - breast, prostate, colon and cervical cancer.
Testing healthy men for hematuria - microscopic amounts of blood in their urine - can reduce the number of bladder cancer deaths by 20%, Messing told a meeting of the American Urological Association in Atlanta.
Messing and fellow urologist Dr Ralph Madeb analyzed bladder cancer rates and deaths for a group of 1,575 men who took a home urine test between 1987 and 2002 and a similar group not screened for bladder cancer.
In all, 530 men were diagnosed with bladder cancer. Fourteen years later, 43% of the patients diagnosed by screening test had died of any cause, and none from bladder cancer, compared to 74% who were diagnosed with cancer only after they began to show symptoms, the researchers found.
"This shows that screening is likely to be effective in saving lives because we found most of the high-grade cancers early enough to provide effective treatments," said Madeb.
Each year, bladder cancer affects about 62,000 people in the United States alone, killing more than 14,000. Smoking and chemical exposure are the most common risk factors.
A second study used a test that checks for a protein normally found in the urine, but found at high levels in bladder cancer patients.
The NMP22 BladderChek test, made by Matritech Incorporated, also saved lives and appeared to be cost-effective, Dr Yair Lotan of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center reported.
His cost model projected that screened patients would gain, on average, three more years of life and screening would save $US100,000 in treatments per 1,000 people screened.
"While the goal of cancer screening is to detect cancer early and save lives, it must be reasonably cost-effective if it is to be instituted widely," Lotan said in a statement.
"In the absence of screening, one in four cancers is detected when it is already advanced, requiring expensive treatment and reduced survival," he added.
