Computed tomography urography for diagnosing bladder cancer

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of computed tomography urography (CTU) for diagnosing bladder tumours in patients with macroscopic haematuria and aged >40 years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In all, 200 consecutive patients attending a fast-track haematuria clinic were assessed using 'same-day' CTU and flexible cystoscopy. Patients were aged >40 years and had macroscopic haematuria with no urine infection. CTU studies were reported by one uroradiologist and scored on a 3-point scale to quantify the probability of bladder cancer. All flexible cystoscopies were performed by the same cystoscopist with no knowledge of the findings of CTU, and scored using a 3-point scale. Cystoscopy, pathological findings and CTU were then compared. RESULTS: The prevalence of bladder tumours was 24%; when CTU was compared with the histopathological findings, there was one false-positive and three false-negative diagnoses, indicating a sensitivity of 0.93 and a specificity of 0.99, with a 0.98 positive and 0.97 negative predictive value for detecting bladder cancer. A review of the three false-negative cases showed that one was missed on original CTU reporting, the second had the appearance of prostate cancer on CTU and the third was a squamous metaplasia. CONCLUSION: CTU is an accurate method of detecting bladder tumours in the present patients, and is reliable and accurate for assessing the bladder. Our results support the use of CTU as a first-line screening tool for this high-risk group, the use of which will obviate the need for flexible cystoscopy in patients with a negative CTU and allow those with an obvious tumour to be referred directly for rigid cystoscopy and resection. The remaining patients should be referred for flexible cystoscopy. Such a pathway would accelerate patient assessment by using fewer tests and provide a true 'one-stop' clinic, allowing a comprehensive evaluation with a single test for the upper and lower urinary tract