Bladder tumor antigen stat test in non-urothelial malignant urologic conditions.

BACKGROUND

The bladder tumor antigen stat is a simple and fast one-step immunochromatographic assay for the detection of bladder tumor-associated antigen in urine.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the BTA stat in non-bladder cancer patients in order to identify the categories contributing to its low specificity.

METHODS

A single voided urine sample was collected from 45 patients treated in the urology clinic for conditions not related to bladder cancer. Each urine sample was examined by the BTA stat test and cytology.

RESULTS

The overall specificity of the BTA stat test was 44%, which was significantly lower than that of urine cytology, 90%. The false positive rates for the BTA stat test varied among the different clinical categories, being highest in cases of urinary tract calculi (90%), and benign prostatic hypertrophy (73%). Exclusion of these categories from data analysis improved BTA stat specificity to 66%.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical categories contributing to low BTA stat specificity can be identified, and their exclusion improves the specificity of this test.