What Causes Blood in Urine (Hematuria)?

What Causes Blood In Urine (Hematuria)?

Blood in urine can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'needs attention' to 'generally fatal'. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.

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Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose blood in urine, we could:

Research the topic
Find a doctor with the time
Use a diagnostic computer system.

The process is the same, whichever method is used.

Step 1: List all Possible Causes

We begin by identifying the disease conditions which have "blood in urine" as a symptom. Here are four possibilities:

Bladder Cancer
Urinary Tract Infection
Kidney Stones
Glomerulonephritis

Step 2: Build a Symptom Checklist

We then identify all possible symptoms and risk factors of each possible cause, and check the ones that apply:

frequent daytime urination

frequent nighttime urination

bladder cancer

history of bladder cancer

current exposure to solvents

significant hypogastric pain

Caucasian ethnicity

having foamy urine

kidney stones

mild abdominal discomfort

very painful urination

very weak urine stream

... and more than 20 others

Step 3: Rule Out or Confirm each Possible Cause

A differential diagnosis of your symptoms and risk factors finds the likely cause of blood in urine:

Cause	Probability	Status
Bladder Cancer	93%	Confirm
Glomerulonephritis	14%	Unlikely
Kidney Stones	2%	Ruled out
Urinary Tract Infection	2%	Ruled out

* This is a simple example to illustrate the process

Arriving at a Correct Diagnosis

The Analyst™ is our online diagnosis tool that learns all about you through a straightforward process of multi-level questioning, providing diagnosis at the end.

In the Urinary Symptoms section of the questionnaire, The Analyst™ will ask the following question about blood in urine (hematuria):

Do you ever see blood in your urine?

Possible responses:

→ No / don't know
→ Yes, once or twice recently
→ Yes, occasionally
→ Yes, regularly

Based on your response to this question, which may indicate either recent onset blood in urine or blood in urine, The Analyst™ will consider possibilities such as:

Bladder Cancer

Blood in the urine, pain while urinating, and a frequent need to urinate even if the bladder is empty are the main symptoms of bladder cancer. However, these symptoms can also indicate bladder infections, stones or benign tumors, so a medical diagnosis is necessary to rule out or confirm cancer of the bladder.

Glomerulonephritis

For some patients, IgAN first appears as an acute glomerulonephritis with macroscopic hematuria (visible blood in the urine). In this case patients are visibly sick enough to seek medical attention, and may exhibit any or all the symptoms of acute glomerulonephritis.

Kidney Stones (Urolithiasis)

The bleeding may be caused by abrasion along the urinary tract as the stone travels.

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

Concerned or curious about your health? Try The Analyst™