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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffUrine cytology is a test to look for abnormal cells in your urine. Urine cytology is used, along with other tests and procedures, to diagnose urinary tract cancers. Urine cytology is most often used to diagnose bladder cancer, though the test may also detect kidney cancer, prostate cancer, ureter cancer and urethra cancer.
Your doctor may recommend a urine cytology test if blood has been detected in your urine (hematuria). Urine cytology may also be used in people who have already been diagnosed with bladder cancer and have undergone treatment. In these cases, a urine cytology test may help detect a bladder cancer recurrence.
- Renshaw AA. Urine and bladder washings. In: Cibas ES, et al. Cytology: Diagnostic Principles and Clinical Correlates. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2009:105.
- De Las Casas LE, et al. Diagnostic value of urine cytology examination. In: Bardales RH. Practical Urological Cytopathology. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press; 2002:234.
