Non-muscle-invasive urothelial cell carcinoma (NMIUCC) has a high tendency to recur and affected patients must be monitored regularly using invasive cystoscopies. The aim of the current study was to compare a multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay (UroVysion) with routine follow-up (cystoscopy and cytology) in the monitoring of patients with a previous history of NMIUCC.
An unselected cohort of patients under surveillance for a previous history of NMIUCC was prospectively studied. A total of 248 examinations in 223 patients were analyzed. Each exploration was comprised of cytological and FISH microscopic examination of voided urine samples and cystoscopy. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values for tumor recurrence of all 3 techniques were determined.
The sensitivities of FISH and cystoscopy were not found to be significantly different (92.9% and 82.1%, respectively). The specificities of FISH and cystoscopy were 92.7% and 89.7%, respectively. The PPV and NPV of FISH were 53.5% and 97.2%, respectively, whereas those of cystoscopy were 63.4% and 98.9%, respectively. No significant differences were found between these 2 tests. In contrast, the sensitivity and specificity of cytology were 14.3% and 99.5%, respectively.
Given the lack of statistically significant differences with regard to FISH and cystoscopy results, the authors propose that FISH could be a useful monitoring tool in the surveillance of patients with a previous history of NMIUCC.