Comparing the clinical accuracy of urine exfoliated cell examination and fluorescence in situ hybridization in the diagnosis of upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma

To compare the effectiveness and clinical accuracy of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and urine exfoliated cytology in the evaluation of upper urinary tract urothelial cell carcinoma (UTUC). 60 patients with suspected UUT-UC admitted to our hospital from May 2021 to May 2023 were selected. All patients underwent FISH and urine exfoliated cytology, and a ureteroscopy pathological biopsy was performed. Using pathological biopsy results as the “gold standard”, we analyzed the compliance rate of FISH and urine exfoliated cytology to evaluate UTUC. Among 60 patients with suspected UTUC, 52 cases were confirmed positive by pathological biopsy, and 8 cases were negative. The positive detection rate of FISH was 90.38%, which was higher than 71.15% of urine exfoliated cytology (P < 0.05). The coincidence rate of urine exfoliated cytology in assessing high-grade UTUC tumors was 76.67%, and the discrepancy rate was 23.33%; the coincidence rate in assessing low-grade tumors was 63.64%, and the discrepancy rate was 36.36%. The coincidence rate of FISH in assessing high-grade UTUC tumors was 93.33%, and the discrepancy rate was 6.67%; the coincidence rate in assessing low-grade tumors was 86.36%, and the discrepancy rate was 13.64%. Compared with urine exfoliated cytology, FISH demonstrated higher diagnostic accuracy for the detection of UTUC and greater accuracy in UTUC classification.