Stowell - Orbison Certificate of Merit

The study examined Prostate Stem Cell Antigen (PSCA) as a potential adjunct marker for cytological diagnosis of bladder cancer.  Although bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer, it’s cost per patient from diagnosis to death is the highest of all the cancer types. This is because the cancer often recurs and periodic monitoring and detection is necessary.  Current standard method for monitoring and detecting bladder cancer is cystoscopy combined with cytology.  However, cystoscopy is invasive and expensive, and cytology alone is often inaccurate, especially for low grade cancer.  The study showed that a simple immunocytochemical staining of  PSCA on cytology slide increased the sensitivity of bladder cancer detection by 40% compared to cytology alone, with a slight decreae of specificity at around 13%.  This study suggests that PSCA may be a simple and effective adjunct marker for cytological diagnosis of bladder cancer.   The study was performed under the direction of Jianyu Rao, M.D., Associate Professor and Director of Cytopathology Research and Fellowship Program, in collaboration with Dr. Rober Reiter and Bejamin Shurtleff from Department of Urology.  J. Rao