Urinary cholesterol in follow-up of patients with urologic carcinomas or benign prostatic hyperplasia

Urinary cholesterol was determined in follow-up in 2 patients with prostatic adenoma, 3 patients with prostatic carcinoma, 3 patients with carcinoma of bladder, and 4 patients with carcinoma of kidney. All patients revealed marked urinary cholesterol hyperexcretion prior to surgery. Except for 1 patient with prostatic carcinoma, excretion of urinary cholesterol normalized at least six weeks after resection. In 1 remarkable case a localized recurrence of a transurethrally resected bladder tumor was associated with a marked increase of urinary cholesterol excretion six weeks prior to cystoscopy. The results point to a possible future value of this method in monitoring patients with bladder tumors, although additional studies are necessary.