Abstract: The method of detecting bladder cancer by optical analysis of bodily fluids utilizes optical techniques to determine a concentration of porphyrin in a patient's bodily fluid sample. The patient is administered 5-aminolevulinic acid and, approximately eight hours later, a bodily fluid sample is collected from the patient, and this bodily fluid sample is optically analyzed to measure a concentration of porphyrin therein. Optical analysis is preferably performed by laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. If the measured concentration of porphyrin is approximately three times a pre-determined porphyrin concentration for a healthy person of the same age as the patient, then the patient is diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Abstract: The method of detecting bladder cancer by optical analysis of bodily fluids utilizes optical techniques to determine a concentration of porphyrin in a patient's bodily fluid sample. The patient is administered 5-aminolevulinic acid and, approximately eight hours later, a bodily fluid sample is collected from the patient, and this bodily fluid sample is optically analyzed to measure a concentration of porphyrin therein. Optical analysis is preferably performed by laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. If the measured concentration of porphyrin is approximately three times a pre-determined porphyrin concentration for a healthy person of the same age as the patient, then the patient is diagnosed with bladder cancer.