Hematuria – Overview

Transcript

Today I’m going to be talking about hematuria, the medical term for blood in the urine, heme = blood, turia = urine. The most common type of hematuria is that seen only under a microscope and not visible to the naked eye. And this is referred to as microscopic hematuria. This is typically discovered on a routine urine analysis. When one sees visible blood in the urine, it is referred to as gross hematuria, or the term I prefer is visible hematuria. There are many causes of hematuria. Its presence does not always indicate a serious problem, as there are many benign causes. One of the most common benign causes in older men is benign enlargement of the prostate. As the prostate enlarges, it takes with it quite a blood supply. And with high pressure urinating as seen with enlargement of the prostate, these blood vessels can easily be opened up, kind of like a nose bleed. On the other hand, one of the most common causes in females is urinary tract infections. Kidney stones may also cause blood in the urine. The two serious causes that we are concerned about as urologists are kidney tumors and bladder cancers.