Cancer Research - Europa

A Drop-Top research at work.
The Drop-Top proposed technology will bring about three
main improvements:
• the number of invasive tests will be strongly reduced,
leading to a reduction in costs by decreasing hospital
admissions and the number of occupation hours lost;
• reduction in the number of invasive tests will also diminish
morbidity and improve the quality of life of patients;
• a better prognosis will allow more adequate choice of
treatment i.e. avoiding therapy to patients who do not
need it and applying more aggressive therapy to patients
at risk.
While most patients develop bladder tumours with a relatively
good prognosis in terms of survival, their management
is very expensive because of the multiple recurrences that
most patients suff er, the need for invasive follow-up procedures,
and the frequent hospitalizations. Overall, bladder
cancer patients generate the highest cost/patient and lifetime
among patients with cancer. In conclusion, bladder
cancer generates very high costs to society.
At the present time, there is no test recommended or
approved to help establish the prognosis of patients with
bladder cancer. Over the past 10 years several products have
been approved by the FDA for use in the early detection of
bladder cancer recurrence (i.e. nmp22, BTA, Diagnocure
Immunocyt, Vysis). However, none of these tests is yet used
routinely in the clinical setting because they do not provide
a substantial benefi t. Therefore, there is a tremendous need
for better tests.
Patients with bladder cancer develop multiple (up to 30)
tumour recurrences, thus requiring continued follow-up
after the initial diagnosis. For this reason, most patients
undergo at least two medical visits over the fi rst few years
EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS
after diagnosis. Subsequently, the frequency of medical
examinations varies according to the evolution of the disease.
Therefore, a test that would allow the early detection of
recurrences and an improved establishment of prognosis
would be applied very frequently to the patients. The Drop-
Top proposed test could even be used more commonly than
cystoscopies are performed today given that it would not
be invasive. Its availability would allow demonstration of
the concept that early detection of tumour recurrence is
associated with improved overall outcome.
Potential applications
Diagnosis and prognosis for the bladder cancer and others
disease.
Preparation of the sample.
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