A urine-based liquid biopsy for detection of upper tract urothelial carcinoma: a self-matched study

To establish the pathological diagnosis of UTUC before treatment is profitable. At present, the conventional pathological diagnostic methods have certain problems. Besides, the urine-based DNA methylation test have been already utilized to detect bladder cancer. To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of DNA methylation plus 17 genes mutation test and compare the combined test with cytology. We included 45 patients from April 2019 to May 2022, all of whom underwent radical nephroureterectomy (RNU), nephrectomy, diagnostic ureteroscopy or tissue biopsy. Before surgery, the urine samples were collected for DNA methylation plus 17 genes mutation test and cytology. The test performance was calculated, and comparative ROC curves were drawn. The median age of the patients was 67 years. The Kappa value of the DNA methylation plus 17 genes mutation test and tissue pathology was 0.59 (p