Haematuria (haematuria) is a symptom of the disease, the most common causes of which are diseases of the urinary system. Blood in the urine may also indicate prostatitis (for men) or endometriosis (for women), as well as cancer. What other diseases can red urine indicate?

Haematuria - inflammation of the urinary tract

Urinary tract infection, i.e. cystitis or bladder tuberculosis are manifested in the first place by difficulties in urinating.

Pain during urination, painful pressure on the bladder and pollakiuria may also appear. Urinary tract infection usually comes with a fever.

Haematuria , otherwiseblood in urinei.e.hematuria , indicates presence of red blood cells in urine , in the amount of>3 in the field of view in the urine sediment.

In haematuria, urine can be pink to brown in color, but most often it is red or bloody. Experts talk about this type of hematuria -macroscopic hematuria .

It may also happen that, despite the presence of red blood cells in the urine, its color remains unchanged - it is calledhematuria - microscopic hematuria .

Isolated hematuria means that only red blood cells are present in the urine with no other abnormalities (e.g. proteinuria, rollers). Red blood cells in the urine can come from any part of the urinary system, from the kidneys to the urethra.

Read also: Urine color. What can the color of urine mean?

The urine of a patient with hematuria is usually brown. Only with very massive and fresh bleeding or bleeding from the end urinary tract can it be vivid red.

Haematuria - kidney disease

  • nephrolithiasismanifests as sudden, usually colic, severe pain in the lumbar region radiating to the perineum, or paroxysmal abdominal pain (usually in young children). Occasionally vomiting occurs. When calculus obstructs the outflow of urine, anuria and post-renal failure of the kidney can develop.
  • glomerular diseases(multiple forms) cause high blood pressure and / or edema in many patients. It is also possible to change the colordark urine (coca-cola color)
  • renal tuberculosisusually produces non-specific symptoms such as elevated temperature, lower back pain or abdominal pain, and symptoms of cystitis: pain and burning when urinating and a feeling of pressure on the bladder
  • renal cystic diseaseis characterized by chronic pain in the lumbar region or abdominal pain and hypertension
  • Nipple necrosisusually occurs in people with diabetes and abusing pain medications
  • kidney infarctionis manifested by violent pain in the lumbar region, which may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting and fever. Most patients develop proteinuria in addition to hematuria. Blood in the urine may also indicate other renal vessel changes, such as renal vein thrombosis and renal artery aneurysm
  • nutcracker syndrome , the essence of which is the widening of the left renal vein, is manifested by pains in the abdominal cavity, often radiating to the back and lumbar region, weakness, varicose veins of the lower limbs, nodules haemorrhoids, and in men additionally pain in the left testicle and varicose veins of the spermatic cord

Also read: URINE: analysis. Basic URINE TEST that says a lot about HEALTH

Important

Red urine does not always indicate blood

The red color of urineis not always caused by the presence of red blood cells.

The red or reddish-brown color of the urine may be related to the presence of hemoglobin or myoglobin in the urine, or porphyria.

May also appear after eating certain foods, e.g. beetroot, rhubarb.

It is worth knowing that the color of urine may also change to bloody dyes contained in some products.

Haematuria - diseases of the prostate gland

  • prostatic hyperplasiais diagnosed mainly in men over 50 years of age. They may complain of an obstruction and feel an enlarged prostate gland
  • prostatitisoccurs most often in men over 50 years of age. and gives symptoms of dysuria, i.e. difficulty urinating. There may also be a feeling of obstruction, pain and tenderness in the prostate

Haematuria - cancer

Cancer of the bladder, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, ureter and urethral cancer is most often diagnosed in patients over 55 years of age with risk factors (smoking, positive family history, exposure to chemicals). This is when symptoms appearsystemic cancer of the bladder, kidney, prostate or ureter.

Haematuria may also indicate Wilms' tumor, which is the most common malignant kidney cancer in children.

A characteristic symptom of the disease is enlarged abdominal circumference. There are also increased blood pressure, abdominal pain, vomiting, fever and recurrent urinary tract infections.

Haematuria - endometriosis

In the case of endometriosis foci in the urinary system (when they invade the bladder walls), hematuria coexists with menstruation.

Dysuria symptoms may also appear, such as pain while urinating, painful pressure on the bladder, difficulty holding urine and pollakiuria.

Important

Haematuria and medications

Blood in the urine may also result from the use of certain medications, especially anticoagulants (e.g. fenindione), which prevent the blood from clotting properly and therefore end up in the urine in too much, as well as antibiotics (e.g. phenazopyridine). Haematuria may also appear after taking cascara, i.e. buckthorn bark, diphenylhydantoin, methyldopa, phenacetin, as well as laxatives - phenolphthalein and sleepy.

Haematuria - other causes

  • urinary tract trauma (blunt or penetrating)
  • foreign body in the urinary tract
  • radiation changes (after radiotherapy)
  • lumbar pain syndrome is manifested by pain in the lumbar region
  • autoimmune diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus, polyarteritis nodosa)
  • infections with high fever
  • sickle cell anemia or a carrier of the disease gene (occurs mainly in black people, mainly children and young adults, often diagnosed with the disease)
  • penile fracture
Important

Beware of schistosomiasis!

A trip to Africa, India or the Middle East is associated with the possibility of developing schistosomiasis - a parasitic disease caused by theSchistosomatype of fluke, which manifests itself, among others, in hematuria.

The fluke, which lives in aquatic environments, penetrates the human skin (usually the feet) into the superficial blood vessels where it begins colonization.

It most often nests in the vessels of the bladder (hence the hematuria), and then, along with the bloodstream, enters various organs.

Based on:The Merck manual. Clinical Symptoms: A Practical Guide to Diagnostics and Therapy , pp. ed. Porter R., Kaplan J., Homeier B., Wrocław 2010

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