[Urinary marker-old wine in new bottles?]

Some urine-based molecular markers can be used effectively in certain clinical situations, but so far none of them have made it into the daily routine. For this purpose, clinical validation in large multicentre prospective studies with defined endpoints is lacking, whereby the cost effectiveness should also be a criterion of the evaluation. This also applies to the many promising "research parameters", which were usually only examined in small groups of patients. The uniform standardization of molecular biological methods is the first step that makes a comparison possible. Current impediments to conducting such studies include elaborate analytics and their still high costs. In summary, the development that has occurred-from the uroscopy to the information that a drop of urine is able to provide today-gives an optimistic outlook on the future: the old idea (of comprehensive urine diagnostics) in new bottles (with new analysis methods?) maybe yet be realized.