Published 17 April 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1324
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1324

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Haematuria

¹ EMGO Institute, VU University Medical Center, Postbus 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ² Department of Nephrology, Westfriesgasthuis, Postbus 600, 1620 AR Hoorn, The Netherlands

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A 40 year old woman complains of frequency without dysuria. The dipstick shows a score of 3+ on the haematuria test. The woman is fit and healthy and has no major medical history.

Haematuria is defined as 3 red blood cells in the urine per high power field. Macroscopic haematuria means that the urine is visibly red. However, red, pink, tea coloured, brown, or black urine may, on microscopic examination, contain no red blood cells. Although usually benign and associated with urinary tract infection or kidney stones, and often self limiting and not having any identifiable cause, haematuria may also be a sign of malignancy or kidney disease.

Does she have a history of kidney stones? Is there a relevant family history, for example of adult polycystic kidney disease? Smoking is associated with urothelial tumours. Strenuous exercise, trauma, sexual intercourse, and menstrual contamination can cause transient haematuria. Ask her whether . . . [Full text of this article]

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