Science / Medicine : Urine Test Can Detect Cancer, Studies Show

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin said last week that a simple, inexpensive urine test that can be done at home may help in mass screenings to find bladder and kidney cancer when they are still at a curable stage.

The test uses inexpensive dipsticks that change color when exposed to microscopic amounts of blood in urine. In one year eight cancers and seven other serious kidney or bladder disorders were found in 235 men using the new test, the Wisconsin researchers said.

Urologist Edward Messing said a larger study is now being conducted and if it upholds the preliminary findings it could prove the benefits of the urine test as a way to widely screen cancer in men older than 50, a group at greatest risk of urinary tract cancers.

Messing said the tests should be performed at least once a week. “If caught early enough, bladder cancer is easy to treat,” he said. “But once the tumor invades deeply into the bladder, it’s fatal more than 50% of the time, despite major and potentially mutilating therapy.”