[Urinary cytology in cases of bladder cancer: a critical evaluation]

Is urinary cytology still a useful method in cases of bladder cancer since additional methods (fluorescence image analysis, monoclonal antibody immunocytology, fibrin degradation products, nuclear matrix protein measurement and others) are under investigation? The literature has been reviewed and compared with classical and new cytology statistics: urinary cytology is less useful than cystoscopy and some of the urine bound tests for the diagnosis of low grade tumors. On the other hand, cytology is extremely valuable for the diagnosis of high grade transitional cell cancers (TCC) and especially carcinomas in situ. The presence of high-grade TCC in the cytology specimen from a patient with low grade papillary TCC suggests either an unrecognised carcinoma in situ or high grade disease in the upper urinary tract or urethra. Urinary cytology is still indispensable in the management of patients with transitional cancer.