Background: Bladder cancer is the most common malignancy of the urinary tract. Its proper diagnosis and efficient treatment is still considered a challenge in urology today. White light cystoscopy is a gold standard for the diagnosis, follow-up, and endoscopic treatment of bladder cancer. To improve the efficacy of bladder cancer management, photodynamic diagnosis and narrow-band imaging have been introduced to the urological armamentarium.
Objective and methods: The article presents the current state of knowledge of technical solutions that are intended to improve the diagnosis and management of bladder cancer. A nonsystemic review of relevant PubMed literature was performed.
Results: Photodynamic diagnosis and narrow-band imaging improve the detection of bladder cancer and decrease recurrence rates of bladder tumors.
Conclusions: Although the high cost of the equipment may limit its introduction to everyday use, it is a cost-effective method of bladder cancer management for long-term follow-up.
Keywords: NBI; PDD; bladder cancer; narrow-band imaging; photodynamic diagnosis; review.