Are urine tests accurate

Sally,

I hope whatever doctor you see schedules a complete work up, be sure to tell him you lost that weight too. Not to get you scared because it's probably nothing to worry about and you did pass the cytology test! But like I said you have a risky diagnosiis and can't be too careful. With the correct follow up, you will be fine.

Keep us posted,
Wendy

Ok thanks for that guys and will let you know how I get on after (Monday).
One other thing that has been on my mind is that I went for pre-op assessment yesterday and have lost 4kg in weight. I pointed this out to the secretary and she semed unconcerned. Is it something I should look into. Thge weight loss has come off sinceSeptember and I havent really been dieting (with xmas you mst be joking) I worked it out and it is just under 9lb.

love

I learned something from Alyssa's question....

MSU =  MID STREAM URINE

I don't know if you all can see the results of this table, but what it is saying is that urine cytology is not accurate for detecting low grade bladder cancer.  This study showed 100% accuracy for large grade.

A Pakistani group did this study that is pretty easy to read.  

Evaluation of initial, mid-stream and terminal urinary sample for cytology in follow up of bladder cancer and its comparison with cystoscopy

This is the site

http://www.pmrc.org.pk/bladdercancer.htm

I don't know about you all, but I am so grateful for Wendy!!

Best to you,
Rosemary

Dear Sally,

I'm glad you pushed for the next appointment instead of waiting, please let us know how your cysto turns out. Urine tests are good for dx-ing high grade tumors but not low grade. Some of these newer tests say they're more accurate for low grade, like FISH, but they are not standard yet and considered expensive, NMP22 -though cheap- is not very accurate and still need to be used with cytology and cysto.

In any case a stage T1b tumor is a risky diagnosis that calls for VERY close follow up. Be your own best advocate, learn all you can. It's your life!

If you have any questions, just ask and I can try to point you to some answers. But cancer remains a kind of a crap shoot, no matter how you cut it, sorry to say.

All the best,
Wendy

Rosematy

As far as I know it was standard plus an MSU.

Alyssa,

Which urine test did the Doctor use? Was it NMP22 or the standard urine cytology?

Rosemary
:-/