Your urinary tract is divided into an upper and lower section. The upper urinary tract consists of your kidneys and ureters—the tubes that lead to your bladder. The lower urinary tract consists of your bladder and urethra—the tube through which urine exits the body. It can cause a number of problems with urination, in addition to blood in the urine. While BPH isn’t cancerous, you’ll want to get checked out by a healthcare provider if you have any symptoms.
Management of Risk Factors
Blood in your urine (sometimes known as ‘peeing blood’ or ‘blood in wee’) can be due to a number of reasons, which will be discussed below. Non-infectious causes include kidney stones, cancer, trauma, or strenuous exercise. It’s possible to have hematuria without pain or infection, especially in the early stages of certain diseases. While some foods (like beets or rhubarb) and medications can discolor urine and mimic blood, they don’t cause true hematuria. True hematuria is confirmed by detecting red blood cells in a urine test.
What are the Diagnostic Tests for Hematuria?
- The treatment will obviously depend on the underlying cause for the blood in your urine.
- It’s such a small amount that it can be seen only under a microscope when a lab tests the urine.
- Several risk factors increase the likelihood of developing hematuria.
- In some cases, your health care professional will test your urine again to confirm the diagnosis of hematuria.
- When an enlarged prostate causes blood in your pee and medications don’t treat it, a healthcare provider may suggest surgery.
The treatment will obviously depend on the underlying cause for the blood in your urine. More information can be found in the separate individual leaflets on the various conditions that can cause blood in your urine. It is likely that you will need to provide a sample of urine which will be sent to the local laboratory to be tested for infection. You may have blood tests, X-rays, or magnetic resonance imaging (mri) and computed tomography (ct) scans.
Hematuria Related to Kidney Diseases
Prostate cancer screenings might include a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and digital rectal examination (DRE). By following this structured diagnosis strategy, healthcare providers can pinpoint the underlying cause of hematuria, ensuring appropriate and targeted treatment. This comprehensive approach is critical for distinguishing benign from serious conditions, ultimately safeguarding patient health and wellbeing. There are also other, more uncommon conditions that can lead to blood in your urine. These include sickle cell disease, injuries to your urinary tract and polycystic kidney disease.
This is called gross hematuria, and it may look red, pink, or brown. This is called microscopic hematuria, where blood may only show up during a urine test. Your doctor may test your urine multiple times to confirm it is an ongoing problem. Ethnic variations further influence the occurrence of hematuria.
Comparison Block: Advantages and Limitations of Ultrasound versus CT Scan
Advanced kidney, bladder, or prostate cancer can cause blood in urine. Red flags in hematuria are signs and symptoms that suggest a potentially serious underlying condition requiring urgent evaluation. This test is performed to identify bacterial infections in the urinary tract. It’s essential if a UTI is suspected, as it helps determine the specific bacteria causing the blood in urine hematuria symptoms and causes infection and guide antibiotic therapy. Blood from menstruation can mix with urine, leading to a red or pink discoloration. It’s crucial to differentiate menstrual contamination from true hematuria.
- Your urinary tract is divided into an upper and lower section.
- Accurate diagnosis ensures the appropriate management and treatment of the symptoms while alleviating patient concerns over potential malignancy.
- See the separate leaflet called Glomerulonephritis for more information.
- It can become infected or irritated, leading to hematuria (blood in urine), pain, and other urinary symptoms.
Understanding what can cause blood in urine may give you an idea as to what is going on. Blood in urine in females can have different causes to blood in urine in males. It can sometimes be difficult for women to know exactly where the blood is coming from. The blood from a menstrual cycle (period) or from another cause from the vagina can also lead to blood in the urine. Drinking more water can help flush out the urinary system and may reduce bleeding caused by mild infections or stones. For women, blood in urine, pregnancy, and miscarriage concerns often prompt more sensitive testing, especially when bleeding is accompanied by pain or cramping.
Proper urine collection techniques (midstream clean-catch) can help minimize this issue. A PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test and a digital rectal exam are essential for evaluating potential prostate cancer. It’s crucial to differentiate BPH from prostate cancer, as both can cause hematuria (blood in urine). Being able to differentiate between kidney, ureter, bladder, prostate, or urethral causes of hematuria (blood in urine), greatly changes the course of treatment. If you experience any of these symptoms with blood in your urine, this could indicate an obstruction in your urinary tract or a serious infection.
Microscopic hematuria may affect up to 10% of the population at some point, often detected during routine urine tests. Gross hematuria is less common but still occurs regularly in clinical settings. Sexual activity can also put you at risk of a urinary tract infection—another reason blood may show up in your urine (more on that below).
The tumor needs a detailed evaluation and surgery for removal. In men, blood in urine male causes can include prostate enlargement, prostatitis, or blood clots in urine male, often linked with urinary retention or trauma. Rarely it may suggest a more chronic or serious issue, like a tumor (Cancer) of the urinary tract. A urinary tract infection (UTI) could easily explain why you’re seeing blood in your urine.
It is difficult to know precisely how common this symptom occurs, but because so many different problems can cause haematuria, it is a quite a common problem for a GP to see. Some people are more likely to have blood in their urine than others, such as women with urine infections, or older men with prostate problems. Dipstick testing detects occult blood in urine, which is invisible to the eye. While convenient, it requires further evaluation to confirm the presence of red blood cells. Known medically as hematuria, this condition can range from harmless to serious.
You should not ignore any blood in your urine even if you have had normal tests in the past. When a certain volume of urine is in your bladder, you become aware that your bladder is becoming full. When you go to the toilet to pass urine, your bladder muscle squeezes (contracts) and your urethra and pelvic floor muscles relax to allow the urine to flow out.
