Haematuria

What is haematuria?

Haematuria is the medical word for blood in the urine. This blood can be visible (macroscopic) or non-visible (microscopic) to the eye. These two situations share similar causes but are investigated slightly differently. Blood in the urine can sometimes be because of cancer, so it is better to investigate why the blood is present and if possible, treat your condition.

Causes

There are many reasons for blood to be found in urine but surprisingly, often, no cause is found for the bleeding. We think that a little bit of blood might leak through the kidney when urine is made or that the bladder sheds a little bit of blood with exercise. Occasionally, what looks like blood in the urine can be food-based dyes (especially beetroot) or from medication. Some possible causes are given below:

• No cause found

• Infection

• Kidney Stones

• Medication

• Intrinsic renal disease

• Bladder or kidney cancer

• Running or jogging

• Trauma

• Recent throat infection

Diagnosis and treatment

Given that blood in the urine can be because of cancer, even if you can’t see the blood, you still need to be investigated – in this case, the chance of finding anything wrong is small and the risk of finding a cancer is very low. You will need to have a few tests such as urine analysis an x-rays and a flexible cystoscopy to rule out some of the causes above. Your treatment will depend on what is causing the blood to appear in your urine.