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Local Voices

DMC Sinai-Grace First Michigan Hospital to Offer Blue Light Cystoscopy to Improve Bladder Cancer Detection

The Detroit Medical Center (DMC) Sinai-Grace Hospital is the first in Michigan, and one of a select number of medical centers nationwide now offering Blue Light Cystoscopy (BLC) with Cysview®. The KARL STORZ Blue Light Cystoscopy system is a newly approved diagnostic imaging system to help detect bladder cancer in patients known to have or suspected to have this disease.

Cysview is a special medication that reacts with bladder cancer causing it to become more visible to the doctor when they look in the bladder with a blue light scope. A white light setting is used to illuminate the bladder during a routine cystoscopy, and a blue light setting (to induce and view fluorescence in cancerous tissue, (i.e.,Cysview), enabling physicians to detect lesions in the bladder. This improves both diagnosis and treatment of this disease, and may lead to improved survival.

“The availability of Blue Light Cystoscopy is in keeping with DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital’s commitment to advancing care for our patients in and around Detroit with the best tools available,” said Ranko Miocinovic, M.D., DMC’s Director of Urologic Robotic Surgery and leader of Sinai-Grace’s urologic oncology program. “With Cysview, identifying bladder cancer means improved visibility of the tumor, resulting in the ability to remove the entire tumor, thus preventing tumor recurrence. Blue light technology helps turn cancerous cells fluorescent—taking us one step further in the cure.  This technology adds another dimension to our urologic robotic oncology program.”

More than 70,000 people in the US were diagnosed with cancer of the bladder in 2009, and an estimated 14,000 Americans died from the disease last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Bladder cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer in men, and the eighth most common in women. Bladder cancer is also one of the most deadly urologic cancers so early detection is critical. Smoking is the most likely cause of bladder cancer. The most common initial sign of the disease is blood in the urine, which calls for urine cytology (tests performed on cells in urine to detect disease), cystoscopy and further radiologic evaluation.

Founded in 1985, the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) is a leading regional healthcare system with a mission of excellence in clinical care, research and medical education—DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan with nine specialties centers, DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital, DMC Harper University Hospital, DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital, DMC Hutzel Women’s Hospital, DMC Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan with more than 30 outpatient locations, DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital, DMC Surgery Hospital, and DMC Cardiovascular Institute with new heart hospital coming in 2014. DMC is proud to be the official Healthcare Services Provider of the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Pistons, Detroit Grand Prix and the Detroit Free Press Marathon, with six DMC Sports Medicine clinics and Sports Performance Academy locations. For more information, visit www.dmc.org.

 



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