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Urine
Urine – our liquid waste can be an important indicator of the health status for not just our urinary system, but across all organs.
Read on to make sure you know enough about it.
Protein in urine
Our previous articles in the “Proteinuria (Protein in urine) Series” explained The “What, How & Why of Proteinuria” & “Clinical & Lab Workup of Proteinuria“
Keeping in sync with the focus of this series, today’s article covers the basic tenets that guide the Treatment of Sustained Proteinuria in kidney disease. Continue reading “Protein in Urine: Treatment approaches”
Our previous article in the “Protein in Urine” series explained, what Proteinuria is, how it may occur & the kidney conditions commonly associated with it.
This article follows-up to inform how your medical team diagnoses Proteinuria in the clinic & relevant treatment approaches that may be undertaken.
The leakage of Plasma Protein in urine is technically termed as “Proteinuria” (pronounced as pro-teen-you-reah). These proteins are NOT the usual nutrient that you obtain from food. These are a different class of Proteins specially made by your Liver.
Plasma Proteins normally circulate in your bloodstream & help with a range of functions essential to keep you alive. Urine samples with Protein tend to be visibly foamy / frothy akin to the kind that you get after dissolving detergents in water. The extent of foam will certainly vary with the extent of protein leakage.
Normally, Urine produced by healthy kidneys is a cocktail of toxic waste products of cellular metabolism, a host of minerals, salts, smelly organic compounds & excess water. (Find the complete normal urine composition here). These components begin to get together to form Urine once healthy kidney micro-filters “strain” our blood through themselves. These micro-filters are uber-selective with what they “let-out” into the urine. This is such that, all blood cells & “plasma” proteins remain in the bloodstream while the wastes & excesses purge themselves out.
But what makes these Kidney Micro-filters that selective against leakage of blood cells & protein in urine?
Continue reading “Healthy Kidneys prevent Blood & Protein in Urine. But how?!”
Haematuria (Red blood cells in urine) is not a disease in itself. It is a “sign” that points to an abnormality within your body.
The treatment approach towards haematuria would require a confirmed diagnosis of the underlying cause and adopting relevant medical and/or corrective surgical approaches. Whether it can be resolved completely or not would entirely depend on its root cause.
Presenting here, the general pointers that guide your treatment plan for patients with Haematuria. Continue reading “Blood in Urine: Can it be resolved?”
Haematuria (blood in urine) is a common reason for “Red Urine” in patients with Kidney and Urinary tract diseases.
If you consult your doctor for reddish discoloration of your urine, your doctor will first:
Based on the clinical examination, you will be advised necessary laboratory-based tests to confirm the presence of blood in your urine.
These tests would also allow your doctor to get an approximate idea of where the blood could have been coming from, into your urine.
Continue reading “Blood in Urine: How to pinpoint the site of bleeding?”
Haematuria
Haematuria is the technical term for the presence of red blood cells (RBCs) in urine. This could range from minute quantities such that it is invisible to the naked eye (occult or hidden bleeding), to frank hematuria such that the urine assumes a reddish tinge to a cola-coloured appearance.
Red blood cells abundantly present in our bloodstream happen to carry a pigment called “Haemoglobin” within them. This is what gives our blood, a red colour and lends that reddish tinge to most urine samples that have blood in it.
Please note: For Haematuria, the urine sample must contain whole red blood cells and not just the red pigment of blood.
Continue reading “Blood in Urine: The Bare Basics of Haematuria”
Urine Colour
Human Urine – the biochemical masterpiece “manufactured” by our Kidneys as a by-product of all the work that they do – is normally a clear, pale / straw yellow to dark (but transparent) yellow in colour. This is attributed to the pigment Urochrome normally found in urine.
In good health, how yellow your urine appears directly relates to your water/liquid intake. The more dehydrated you are, the denser & more concentrated your urine is, and the darker is the yellow colour as depicted in the image below.
Samples in the image above aptly show the normal variation in Urine Colour in good health. For all practical diagnostic purposes, this urine colour range qualifies as normal. Now, Urine is not a topic that would usually make the cut in any polite conversation in non-specialist social gatherings.
Something as humble and underappreciated as your Urine Colour is a reliable clinical criterion used by physicians to substantiate their clinical opinion on your health status. Continue reading “Urine Colour: Variations in Kidney & Urinary Tract Disease”
Urinalysis Report
Every time you deposit your Urine sample at the hospital lab, you need to wait for (usually) a few hours before collecting the Urinalysis Report.
Wondering what is it that takes the lab people that long or what they might be looking at, before commenting on your health status in their Report? It’s just Urine after all, right?! Continue reading “Urinalysis: Decoding the Report”
In a routine Urinalysis, the Physico-chemical examination comprises analysis of properties that help to define how a Urine Sample appears to the naked eye.
These include the following:
Normal Urine is typically Pale/Straw yellow to Dark yellow in Colour due to the presence of pigment Urochrome.
Continue reading “Urinalysis Report: Physico-Chemical Examination”