A phase III, multicenter comparison of hexaminolevulinate fluorescence cystoscopy and white light cystoscopy for the detection of superficial papillary lesions in patients with bladder cancer

PURPOSE: We compared hexaminolevulinate fluorescence cystoscopy with white light cystoscopy for detecting Ta and T1 papillary lesions in patients with bladder cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 311 patients with known or suspected bladder cancer underwent bladder instillation with 50 ml 8 mM HAL for 1 hour. The bladder was inspected using white light cystoscopy, followed by blue light (fluorescence) cystoscopy. Papillary lesions were mapped and resected for histological examination. RESULTS: Noninvasive pTa tumors were found in 108 of 196 evaluable patients (55.1%). In 31 patients (29%) at least 1 more tumor was detected by HAL than by white light cystoscopy (p<0.05). Six of these patients had no lesions detected by white light, 12 had 1 lesion detected by white light and more than 1 by HAL, and 13 had multiple Ta lesions detected by the 2 methods. Conversely at least 1 more tumor was detected by white light cystoscopy than by HAL cystoscopy in 10 patients (9%, 95% CI 5-16). Tumors invading the lamina propria (T1) were found in 20 patients (10.2%). At least 1 additional T1 tumor was detected by HAL but not by white light cystoscopy in 3 of these patients (15%), while at least 1 more T1 tumor was detected by white light cystoscopy than by HAL cystoscopy in 1 patient (5%, 95% CI 0-25). Detection rates for Ta tumors were 95% for HAL cystoscopy and 83% for white light cystoscopy (p=0.0001). Detection rates were 95% and 86%, respectively, for T1 tumors (p=0.3). HAL instillation was well tolerated with few local or systemic side effects. CONCLUSIONS: HAL fluorescence cystoscopy detected at least 1 more Ta and T1 papillary tumor than white light cystoscopy in approximately a third of the patients with such tumors. Whether this would translate to improved patient outcomes has yet to be determined.