Hexvix Cystoscopy Detects At Least One More Papillary Tumour Than White Light Cystoscopy Alone In 29% Of Patients

July 21, 2007 – 3:17 pm | posted in Urology / Nephrology

A comparative study between GE Healthcare’s Hexvix® fluorescence cystoscopy and white light cystoscopy has shown that Hexvix® cystoscopy is more effective in the detection of Ta and T1 papillary lesions than white light1 cystoscopy alone in 29% patients. The study has been published in this month’s Journal of Urology issue.

The study involved a total of 196 evaluable patients with known or suspected bladder cancer. Because other randomized studies had shown that Hexvix® cystoscopy is capable of detecting more tumours than white light2, the 2 cystoscopy procedures were performed sequentially; white light visualization then fluorescence cystoscopy with Hexvix® . The results showed that 29% of the patients had at least one more pTa lesion detected with Hexvix® cystoscopy than white light cystoscopy alone, the current standard for visual diagnosis of bladder cancer (p<0.05). The improvement in detection rate for pTa tumours was statistically significant, at rates of 95% for Hexvix cystoscopy compared to 83% for white light cystoscopy (p<0.0001). The authors stated that the early detection and excision of such papillary tumours could lead to improved patient outcomes by prolonging the time when they are free of the disease, although this has yet to be shown in a clinical trial.

Six of the patients involved in the study had no tumour detected by white light alone and the presence of bladder cancer was only visually identified using Hexvix® cystoscopy. 12 patients thought to have only one papillary lesion were found to have multiple tumours when examined under blue light.
These changes in diagnosis should lead to patients being managed differently. 3

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