NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A protein called Ki-67, which may be found in tumor specimens, identifies bladder cancers that are likely to return after surgery and cancers that are often fatal, according to findings in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The current study, conducted by Dr. Shahrokh F. Shariat, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues, confirms what the team had shown in an earlier study. The present study, however, featured 713 patients, whereas the first only included 226.

Among the 713 patients, bladder cancer returned in 44.6 percent. Roughly 55 percent had died at the time of the analysis, 38.4 percent from bladder cancer that had spread throughout the body.

As in the first study, Ki-67 was strongly linked to both bladder cancer recurrence and to death from bladder cancer.

The authors found that adding Ki-67 testing to standard methods further enhanced their ability to assess the prognosis of bladder cancer.

Knowing which patients are likely to experience progression of their cancer after surgery is important because it is these patients who may benefit from chemotherapy around the time of surgery, the team notes.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, January 21, 2009.

• More News on Bladder Cancer

Related MedlinePlus Pages:

• Bladder Cancer