Research progress in potential urinary markers for the early detection, diagnosis and follow-up of human bladder cancer.

OBJECTIVE To summarize and evaluate various urinary markers for early detection, diagnosis and follow-up of human bladder cancer. METHODS A MEDLINE and PUBMED search of the latest literature on urinary markers for bladder cancer was performed. We reviewed these published reports and made a critical analysis. RESULTS Most urinary markers tend to be less specific than cytology, yielding more false-positive results, but demonstrating an advantage in terms of sensitivity, especially for detecting low grade, superficial tumors. Some tumor markers appear to be good candidates for early detection, diagnosis, and follow-up of human bladder cancer. CONCLUSION A number of urinary markers are currently available that appear to be a applicable for clinical detection, diagnosis, and follow-up of bladder cancer. However, further studies are required to determine their accuracy and widespread applicability.