What Does Blood in the Urine Mean?

Blood in the urine is not always cause for concern. Common causes of blood in urine include kidney and bladder stones or infections, strenuous exercise, cancer, urinary tract infections (UTI), enlarged prostate, and other medical conditions.

There are many reasons why both men and women may experience blood in their urine. Although it may be unsettling, it’s not always cause for concern. If you see blood in your urine, you should investigate the underlying cause with your doctor.

Blood in your urine may occur in two different ways:

Gross hematuria

Grosshematuriais when you can see the blood cells in your urine. This means your urine will be red, brown or pink. It may come withblood clotsin your urine, which may make it painful.

Microscopic hematuria

Microscopic hematuria is when only a health professional can see blood in your urine under a microscope. This is a fairly common finding in urine analysis of adults. Your doctor may order further tests to find the underlying cause if they can see 3 to 5红细胞每大功率领域。

You may experience blood in your urine for a variety of reasons:

Kidney or bladder stones

Akidney stoneis produced through chemicals in your urine. There are four types of hardkidney stones: uric acid, cystine, calcium oxalate, and struvite. By contrast, bladder stones consist of hard矿物质lumped together.

Medically, bladder stones are called bladder calculi. Either kidney or bladder stones could cause the blood you see.

Infection of the kidney or bladder

An infection in your kidneys or bladder may cause blood in your urine. If the blood comes from an infection, you may experience other symptoms. For instance, kidney infections (pyelonephritis) may producefeverandchills, orpainin your lower back.

For bladder infections (acutecystitis), you could experiencefever, burning when you urinate, or bellypain.

Strenuous exercise

If you have blood in your urine fromexercise, it is usually harmless. It occurs more often after strenuousexercisein men than in women.

Cancer

In more serious cases, blood, when you urinate may indicatecancer. Blood is one of the early warningsigns of bladder cancer, but it could also indicate kidneycancer. A benign tumor may also causeblood in the urine.

Medical condition

A medical condition, such assickle cell anemia(which affects thehemoglobinin red blood cells), is another possible cause forblood in the urine.

Alport syndromecould also cause it.Alport syndromeaffects the filtering membranes in the small blood vessels of the kidneys.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs)

The majority ofurinary tract infectionsoccur in the lower tract of the urine tract, meaning the bladder and the urethra.Urinary tract infectionsmay cause blood in your urine,itching, andpelvic pain. They can usually be cured within a few days with medication.

Women have a higher risk of getting aurinary tract infectionthan men.

Enlarged prostate

For men, blood in the urine could mean benign prostatic enlargement. This is a condition that affects all men as they grow older. By the age of 50 to 60, half of all men will experience anenlarged prostate, and 90% of men over the age of 85 will experience it.

If you have blood in your urine, your doctor will run some initial tests to help identify the underlying cause, including:

Urinalysis: A combination of a visual and chemical examination to confirm the presence of blood and proteins in the urine

Blood Tests: To evaluate kidney function

Complete Blood Count(CBC): To determine blood cells and platelet counts

Once your initial test results are in, your doctor may order some follow up tests:

• Kidney stoneanalysis
• Bleeding disordertests
• Sickle cell tests
• Hemoglobinopathy (the identify otherinheriteddisorders affecting red blood cells)
• Autoantibody testing (determine if an autoimmune disorder is present)
• Prostatic specific antigen (to look forprostate cancer)
• Kidney biopsy (to determine nature and extent of structural kidney damage)

The necessary treatment for blood in the urine will vary depending on the cause. For example, you can treat aurinary tract infectionwith medication. On the other hand, you may need abone marrow transplantforsickle cell anemia.