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Urine cytology
Hello all, my husband was diagnosed ta low grade in December 2012. . Solitary 3cm. Tumor remived. We are on our second recheck, and saw doc today for cysto. He said ” all clear” , but is doing urine cytology. He said this is standard. I don’t recall him mentioning this back in April at that check up. is this standard ? and how often is the cysto clear, but urine cytology is positive. Won’t have results for 5-7 days and i am a worrier. Any info appreciated.
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4 Replies
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Yes, the cytology tests take a few days and it isn’t cheap-seems like my insurance is billed at around $200. Just a necessary evil and as Sara Anne false positives are possible.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait.
As Alan said, cytology is routine…and I would be concerned about the uro’s care if he didn’t. Depending on the type of cytology study requested, it probably is not done “in-house” but is sent out to a specialized lab. This does take time.
One thing to remember….cytology can be very sensitive (it picks up signs of cancer very well) but is not always specific (there can be a number of false positives.) It is just one of the things that the urologist uses to monitor your husband’s condition.
Sara Anne
Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
BCG; BCG maintenance
Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
Forum Moderator
Thank you Alan for your prompt rely. I just went thru records from April checkup and cytology was done then as well…negative. I guess i just didn’t realize this was routine. Hubby had a CT scan in December and one in April…upper urinary track appeared fine. Does it sound reasonable the cytology would take 5 days? I guess we will get used to this waiting.
Totally routine plus a non invasive test. I am 5 years out so I stagger my annual physical 6 months apart from my yearly cysto and have cytology done each time. I wouldn’t get too worked up since the cysto was clear and if something did show abnormal I would weant to know about it early. The cytology can also show upper urinary tract issues if there is any. With low grade and clear on the cysto I have to think he is OK.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait.Sign In to reply.