Urinary tract infections make up one of the most common bacterial infections, globally. With billions of suspected cases, diagnosis and treatment of UTIs put a tremendous strain on public health. A fast and reliable diagnostic tool to exclude and highlight UTIs is thus of utmost importance for patient care. The UF-1500 eases the burden of laboratory technicians by ruling out UTIs in less than a minute and highlighting samples with suspicion of UTIs for subsequent and targeted diagnostics. The UF-1500 is also equipped with the ‘BACT Info’ flag which provides additional morphological information for detected bacterial cells. This information can foster a more rapid diagnosis of UTI, for example, if combined with direct antibiotic susceptibility testing [Gilboe et al., 2021]. In addition, the presence of renal tubular epithelial cells (RTEC) in UTI-positive samples can support the detection of complicated upper urinary tract infections [Oyaert et al., 2020]. The UF-1500 aims to improve clinical decision-making in the context of UTI and to fight the empiric and unnecessary prescription of antibiotics in the sense of antimicrobial stewardship.

The KDIGO guidelines define the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and albuminuria as key indicators of CKD. Adding albumin and creatinine to a routine test strip thus enables the early detection of albuminuria at a reversible stage. The diagnostic capabilities of the UF-1500 combined with the UC-3500, therefore, play an important role in the early detection of CKD, which can improve patient care.

The UF-1500 can provide deeper insights into kidney abnormalities through RBC-related parameters for extended diagnostics beyond the detection of albuminuria. This can support the identification of the glomerular or non-glomerular origin of haematuria but might also support the screening for Lupus nephritis [Chen et al., 2022] or the detection of glomerulonephritis [Mizuno et al., 2021].

Invasive and resource-intensive cystoscopies remain the gold standard in bladder cancer diagnosis and surveillance but can routine urinalysis support patients and clinicians in the context of bladder cancer detection and surveillance? The UF-1500 comes equipped with the Atyp.C research parameter which has the potential to detect urinary atypical cells that are suspicious of malignancy by urinary flow cytometry in correlation with an increased nucleic acid content and nucleus-to-cytoplasm ratio. The Atyp.C parameter might be an indicator to further investigate samples for the presence of bladder cancer, especially in patients with a history of bladder cancer [Tinay et al., 2019].