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What Is Hematuria?

Hematuria is the medical term for blood in your urine and it can be a sign that something is wrong with your kidneys or other parts of your urinary tract.

Sometimes, it may not be a cause for major alarm, but because blood in urine may indicate a serious medical condition, you should never ignore it.

On a basic level, there are two types of hematuria that you need to know:

Gross hematuria. When there’s enough blood in your urine that makes it appear pink or red or has spots of visible blood.
Microscopic hematuria. When there’s too little blood in your urine and you can only detect it under a microscope.

Several different conditions and diseases can cause hematuria, thus all cases of hematuria should be evaluated by a doctor who can analyze your urine and order imaging tests to confirm or rule out an underlying cause.

What Causes Hematuria?

Common cause of hematuria includes:

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

UTI is one of the most common causes of hematuria. It can happen anywhere along the urinary tract, from your urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body) up until your kidneys.

Infection happens when bacteria enter the urethra and travel upwards to your bladder or even kidneys. When you have UTI, your hematuria can also be accompanied by symptoms such as painful urination or increased urinating frequency.

2. Kidney and bladder stones

This is another common reason for hematuria. Stones/ Crystals form in the kidneys or bladder when the waste products in the blood bind with minerals in the urine.

Small stones may pass through urination but larger stones may remain in the kidney or bladder or get stuck elsewhere in the urinary tract, causing a blockage that often results in hematuria and significant pain.

3. Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH)

BPH is medical term for enlarged hyperplasia. It affects around 50% of adult males aged 51-60 years and as many as 90% of those over the 80 years old.

The prostate is located just beneath the bladder and near the urethra, thus any enlargement can cause compression that makes urination difficult and also making complete bladder emptying impossible.

To compensate for this inefficiency, the bladder will need to work harder to release urine, leading to damage and bleeding.

4. Recent catheterization

A urinary catheter (UC) is a flexible tube that helps drain urine from the bladder. It is indicated for people who may have difficulty passing urine following an injury, surgery or disease.

Usage of a UC, especially long-term can allow passage of bacteria through the urethra, leading to a catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI).

5. Glomerulonephritis

Glomerulonephritis (GN) is the inflammation of glomeruli (tiny structures within the kidneys that help filter and clean the blood).

In people with GN, their injured kidneys are not able to remove waste and excess fluid from the body. This disease can occur on it's own or as part of another disease such as diabetes.

6. Cancer

Hematuria is a symptom that often occurs in cases of cancer in the prostate, bladder or kidney, especially for the advanced cases.

7. Medication

Certain medications may cause hematuria. These include:

Blood thinners such as warfarin and heparin
penicillin
aspirin
cyclophosphamide, which is a chemotherapy drug used to treat certain types of cancer

There are a variety of causes of blood in the urine and some of them are very serious. See a doctor if you notice even a small amount of blood in your urine or if you experience frequent, difficult, painful urination as well as abdominal or flank pain. It may be indications of microscopic hematuria.

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References:

Ellis, M. (2016). Blood in urine: Causes, Symptoms and Diagnosis. [online] Healthline.com. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/symptom/blood-in-urine.
Biggers, A. (2019). Blood in urine: 9 causes in males. [online] Medical News Today. Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324824.php.
Kidneyfund.org. (2019). Blood in urine. [online] Available at: http://www.kidneyfund.org/kidney-disease/kidney-problems/blood-in-urine.html.

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8. https://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/gcms/Why-is-there-blood-in-my-urine-722x406.jpg

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What Is Hematuria?

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