[Diagnosis and follow-up of superficial bladder tumors using non-invasive techniques]

The discomfort caused by cystoscopy to the patient with superficial bladder tumor has led to the routine use of other less invasive but similarly reliable procedures. We performed a two-year comparative study of cystoscopy versus abdominal ultrasonography/cytology in 90 patients. Two hundred procedures were performed for each method of evaluation. Together, the sensitivity and specificity of both procedures were 61% and 98%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 94% and 87%, respectively. These good results have permitted us to change the follow-up protocol of these patients such that currently ultrasonography and cytology are performed once every 6 months, and cystoscopy is used only for those cases with clinical features suggestive of recurrence and a negative work up of those with a negative scan and positive cytology.