Virtually everyone is familiar with having to provide a urine specimen during routine health care checkups. Your doctor will perform several tests on your urine, including checks for sugar, bacteria and blood. Microscopic hematuria means that blood is present in your urine but it is only visible under microscope. Most causes are not serious, but if tests finds blood, your doctor may want to perform additional testing to pinpoint the cause and rule out more serious problems.
Visible blood in the urine usually signals a more serious problem such as kidney or bladder cancer. Only about 2% to 3% of individuals with microscopic hematuria have a urological cancer. Cause of microscopic hematuria include:
- Urinary infection
- Kidney or bladder stones
- Enlarged prostate
- Prostate infection
- Period in women
- Kidney disease or trauma
- Blood-thinning drugs such as aspirin, coumadin or warfarin
- Drugs for joint swelling and pain
- Tough workouts
Your physician will require repeat urine testing to confirm presence of blood, and ask questions about infection, menstruation, kidney stones, recent kidney injury or drugs. If no additional blood is found, further testing may not be required.
If testing indicates blood and protein, additional blood and urine tests are required to determine if kidney disease is the cause. Sometimes a kidney biopsy is performed to find out if drugs are required to treat the condition.
When repeat testing shows blood but no protein, several tests may occur such as:
- Blood test to assess kidney function
- Cystoscopy to look inside the bladder
- CT scan, MRI or ultrasound to examine the kidney, ureters and bladder
Often, no specific cause will be found. Your doctor will as you to repeat these tests at least every two years as a followup to diagnose or avoid further health problems. Contact us at Urology Austin for further information on diagnosis and treatment of hematuria.