Currently, cystoscopy and urinary cytology are the most current tests used to diagnose and monitor bladder cancer. However, on the one hand, urinary cytology has low sensitivity in the detection of low grade tumors, and on the other hand, cystoscopy is invasive, expensive, and its result is operator-dependent. In this sense, a new joint investigation of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, the Health Research Institute La Fe (IIS-La Fe) and the CIBER-BBN has designed a new system for early detection for this type of pathologies. The method is based on the use of voltammetric electronic languages, a low cost technology, whose application could help detect the pathology in its earliest stages, with a small urine sample.
It should be remembered that according to the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), in Spain about 12,200 cases of bladder cancer are diagnosed annually; 357,000 worldwide. The incidence in our country is one of the highest in the world; It is the fourth most frequent tumor in men, after those of lung, prostate and colorectal.
A greater percentage of correct answers
Electronic languages are analytical systems that offer information that can be related to specific compounds present in a sample or with a quality of the sample that is studied. They allow the classification of complex samples by characterizing their physicochemical parameters and have applications in the analysis of food, water quality, wines, explosives and biofluids for the detection of diseases.
According to Mª Carmen Martínez Bisbal, researcher of the CIBER-BBN, “the preliminary results of this study, with a 75 percent success rate, indicate that current waveforms induced in urine by pulse voltammetry could allow, with a adequate processing of the data, non-invasive diagnosis in the follow-up of patients with bladder cancer “.
In addition, signal processing can be carried out immediately by a personal computer, with which the results are instantaneous and their application would reduce diagnostic waiting times.