• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2006

Urine cytology is the most useful technique for detecting either primary or recurrent neoplasms in the urinary tract. Although urine cytology is the traditional method of detecting these neoplasms, its diagnostic accuracy has been underevaluated because of low sensitivity. The cytologic interpretation of urinary samples is not an easy task, even with some expertise in this area, for many reasons. In low-grade urothelial carcinoma, no reliable or reproducible diagnostic cytologic criteria can be provided because of the lack of obvious cytologic features of malignancy, which is one of the main factors lowering its diagnostic accuracy. Many diagnostic markers have been developed recently to enhance its diagnostic yield, but the results have not been satisfactory. However, urine cytology plays a role in detecting high-grade urothelial carcinoma or its precursor lesions. It still shows higher specificity than any of the newly developed urine markers. Understanding the nature of urine samples and the nature of neoplasms of the urinary tract, recognizing their cytologic features fully, and using cytologic findings under appropriate conditions in conjunction with a detailed clinical history would make urine cytology a very valuable diagnostic tool.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.51-55
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• 1991

The diagnosis of carcinoma in situ of urinary bladder is difficult in that the symptoms and cystoscopic findings are nonspecific. The cytology of urine could be helpful for diagnosis of carcinoma in situ of urinary bladder. We present a case of bladder washing cytology of carcinoma in situ. A 54-year-old man presented with dysuria for 1 year. Cystoscopic findings revealed multifocal reddish trabeculated lesions. The bladder washing cytology revealed rather uniform tumor cells which were singly scattered of forming syncytium in the clean back-ground. The nuclei were round to oval with inconspicious nucleoli. The cystoscopic biopsy revealed typical histologic features of carcinoma in situ of urinary bladder.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2006

Transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder is common in the genitourinary tract. The gold standard for the diagnosis of bladder cancer has been cystoscopy, along with urine cytology. Cystoscopy is an invasive and relatively expensive technique. By comparison, urine cytology is easy to perform and specific for a diagnosis of bladder cancer, although less sensitive, especially in low-grade tumors. For this reason, there has been a need for superior noninvasive technology to increase our confidence in being able to detect bladder cancer. There are many reports of the various urinary tests that are available to facilitate the diagnosis. In this article, I reviewed the literature on urinary markers and tests that may be clinically useful, including fluorescence in situ hybridization, uCyt+/Immunocyte, the $BTA^{(R)}$ test, the NMP 22TM, the $FDP^{(R)}$ test, the telomerase activity test, the HA and HAse tests, and flow cytometry. Most of these tests have a higher sensitivity and specificity than cytology. However, urine cytology has the highest specificity, especially in individuals with a high-grade tumor. We conclude that no urinary markers or tests can replace the role of cystoscopy along with cytology in the diagnosis of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. However, some markers could be used adjunctively to increase the diagnostic accuracy during screening or during the postoperative follow-up examination of patients with bladder cancer.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.153-156
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• 2007

Primary small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder is an extremely rare but important entity. We experienced a case of small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder diagnosed by urine cytology. A 59-year-old man presented with gross hematuria and dysuria, and a calcified mass was detected at the left ureterovesical junction by cystoscopy. Abdominal ultrasonography revealed focal wall thickening at the left lateral side of the urinary bladder, and urine cytology findings were of an inflammatory background and atypical small round cells with minute hyperchromatic or pyknotic nuclei, scant cytoplasm, and rare nucleoli. In addition, atypical cells were scattered in an isolated single cell pattern or in small loose clusters with prominent nuclear molding. Subsequent histological and immunohistochemical examinations confirmed a diagnosis of small cell carcinoma.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.148-155
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• 1995

Urinary cytology has become an essential element in the diagnosis and management of transitional ceil carcinoma(TCC) of the urinary tract. It has the advantage of being noninvasive, inexpensive, and easily accessible. Besides that it can even detect malignancy when unsuspected at cystoscopy. We report a retrospective review of urine cytology un the diagnosis of 83 TCC cases that underwent 295 cytologic evaluation. All patients had biopsy-proven TCC of the bladder, ureter and renal pelvis, The overall incidence of the positive cytology cases was 66.2%. To define the cytologic features of tumor cells, we tried to use three cytologic gradings such as "grade 1", "grade 2", and "grade 3" according to the cytologic degree of anaplastic neoplastic cells. These cytologic gades of TCC were relatively well correlated with the histologic grade and tumor invasiveness. This result suggests that the recognition of characteristic cellular features of TCC can suspect the histologic grade and tumor stage. The false negative TCC cases were 78.9%. They showed severe inflammatory or bloody background and a few neoplastic cells. Therefore, a cautious approach for accurate interpretation, personal experience, and proper fixation and processing could expand the role of urinary cytology.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.130-136
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• 1994

Urinary cytology is increasingly accepted as a diagnostic tool in the detection and follow-up of patients with bladder cancer. However, its value is reduced by several limitations, especially by the lack of cytologic criteria specifically reflecting the morphology of low-grade urothelial neoplasm. We reviewed histologically proven 50 cases of urine cytology with emphasis on cytologic findings of benign atypia and differential findings of urothelial neoplasm according to the grade. The diagnoses included 17 benign lesions(including 5 cases of urine calculi) and 33 malignant lesions (including 28 transitional cell carcinomas, 3 squamous cell carcinomas, 1 adenocarcinoma and 1 prostate adenocarcinoma), Diagnostic accuracy was 92%. Important cytodiagnostic criteria for benign atypia and low grade malignancy were cellularity, number of cell clusters, and morphology and arrangement of urothelial cells. The cytologic findings of urothelial neoplasms according to histologic grade were relatively well correlated with the histologic findings. However, the cytologic criteria were not sufficient to readily distinguish grade I from grade II. In view of this, we think that cytologic nomenclature "low-grade" and "high-grade" is a more reliable criterion. Recognition of subtle cellular morphologic features specific for urothelial lesions(including benign or malignancy) and proper fixation, processing and staining of specimen can expand the role of urinary cytology In detection and follow-up of patients.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.192-197
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• 2001

Purpose: Urinary cytology and cystoscopic exam are effective methods for diagnosis of transitional cell carcinoma(TCC). But the former shows drawbacks such as the need for a well-trained examiner, and wide imprecision related to the variability of microscopic exam; the latter is an invasive method. $UBC^{TM}$ test detects the epitope on specific cytokeratin fragments released from epithelium of bladder cancer by immunoradiometric assay. We compared $UBC^{TM}$ test with urinary cytology for diagnosis of TCC to evaluate the utility of $UBC^{TM}$ test. Materials and Methods: Eighty-four patients with hematuria were included in our study. $UBC^{TM}$ tests (IDL Biotech, Sweden) were assayed in mid-stream urine according to the ordinary assay protocol. Nineteen patients were confirmed as TCC by cystoscopic examination and underwent transurethral resection (Group A). Other patients had various benign urinary tract conditions (Group B). Samples were considered positive as the $UBC^{TM}$ concentration was greater than $12{\mu}g/L$. Results: $UBC^{TM}$ levels were significantly different between group A ($95.9{\pm}166.4\;{\mu}g/L$) and group B ($19.2{\pm}85.6{\mu}g/L$) (P<0.001). Sensitivity for diagnosis of TCC was 89.5% (17/19) in UBC test and 47.4% (9/19) in cytology (p<0.05). Specificity for diagnosis of TCC was 81.5% (53/65) in $UBC^{TM}$ test and 100% (65/65) in cytology. $UBC^{TM}$ test was significantly more sensitive in stage Ta, $T_1$ tumors (84.6 vs 38.5%, p<0.05) and in grade I (83.3% vs 16.7%, p<0.05) than cytology. $UBC^{TM}$ test showed a tendency to be more sensitive as the grade was higher (83.3% in Grade I, 90% in Grade II and 100% in Grade III). Conclusion: $UBC^{TM}$ test could be a useful method in distinguishing TCC from other benign genitourinary diseases. Moreover, $UBC^{TM}$ test could be an especially valuable marker for diagnosis of TCC in patients with early TCC of low grade TCC compared to urinary cytology. Therefore, mbined use of $UBC^{TM}$ test in association with cytology is helpful to overcome the limited sensitivity of cytology.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.81-85
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• 2013

Background: Early diagnosis of carcinoma of bladder remains a challenge. Survivin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) protein family, is frequently activated in bladder carcinoma. The objective of this study was to investigate urinary survivin as a marker for diagnosis of urinary bladder. Materials and Methods: We examined urinary survivin concentration in 28 healthy individuals, 46 positive controls and 117 cases of histologically proven TCC prior to transurethral resection, using ELISA, and compared values with findings for urinary cytology. Results: Survivin was found to be significantly higher in the cancer group (P<0.05). A cut off value of 17.7 pg/ml was proposed, with an approximate sensitivity of 82.9% and specificity of 81.1% (P<0.0001), whereas urine cytology had a sensitivity of 66.7% and a specificity of 96.0%. Conclusions: Urinary survivin can be used as a non-invasive diagnostic biomarker for TCC bladder, both for primary and recurrent disease.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.121-125
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• 2001

Primary small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder is a rare malignant tumor. A more rapidly fatal course may be seen in advanced stages of small cell carcinoma as compared to similar stages of urothelial carcinoma. It is very important to recognize this distinct form of bladder cancer by urinary cytology The differential diagnosis of small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder includes metastatic small cell carcinoma, urothelial carcinoma, and primary or secondary malignant lymphoma. This article highlights the urinary cytologic diagnosis of a case of primary small cell carcinoma. A 59-year-old male presented with gross hematuria for five months. Urinary cytology showed high cellularity consisting of tiny monotonous tumor cells in the necrotic background. The tumor cells occurred predominantly singly, but a few in clusters. The cytoplasm was so scanty that only a very narrow rim of it was seen. The nuclei were oval or round and had finely stippled chromatin. Rarely, the nuclei contain visible nucleoli. Frequently cell molding was noted in clusters. Many single cells demonstrated nuclear pyknosis or karyorrhexis. The histologic findings of transurethral resection and partial cystectomy specimen were those of small cell carcinoma. Cytologic distinction may be very difficult but careful attention to clinical features and cellualr details can classify these neoplasms correctly.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.167-171
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• 1994

Small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder is a rare tumor which occurs in about 0.48 % of all bladder tumors. We report cytologic features of small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder in a 66-year-old man who had painless total gross hematuria, which was confirmed by partial cystectomy. In urine cytology, abundant tumor cells appeared in scattered and clustered forms in a bloody background. The tumor cells were small and uniform in size with a high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio. The nuclei of the tumor cells were hyperchromatic, characteristically molded and showed inconspicuous nucleoli. The cytoplasms were scanty and pale blue.