Blood In Urine Men

Blood in the urine is a common problem. The medical term for red blood cells in the urine is hematuria. Sometimes blood in the urine is a sign of a serious problem in the urinary tract, while other times it is not serious and requires no treatment. Only after a thorough evaluation by a healthcare provider should blood in the urine is due to a non-serious question.

A tiny amount of blood in the urine is normal. The average person with a healthy urinary tract excretes about 1 million red blood cells (RBC) in the urine each day. This amount of blood is not visible. This is not regarded as hematuria.

Women develop hematuria more than men because women are more likely to have urinary tract infections.
The elderly, especially males, suffer from hematuria more often than younger people because they are more likely to take medications that can irritate the urinary tract, have an enlarged prostate or cancer.

Sometimes the urine may be pink, red or brown for reasons that have nothing to do with bleeding in the urinary tract. It may simply be due to the food you have eaten beets for example, berries, rhubarb. Can also be due to food coloring, certain laxatives and drugs against pain or menstrual blood.

An abnormal amount of blood in the urine can be acute (new, occurring suddenly) or chronic (ongoing, long-term). Acute hematuria can occur just once, or it may occur several times.

Sometimes the urine can appear with a color indicating hematuria, but urine does not actually contain red blood cells, but discolored by medications or food.

Up to 10% of people suffer from hematuria. About 3% of people develop gross hematuria.

Blood in the urine is not always visible. If the amount of blood is low, the urine appears normal. This is called microscopic hematuria because the blood cells are visible only under a microscope. Generally, this is discovered when the patient has a urine test for another reason.

When there is enough blood to be visible, the urine may appear pink, red or brown smoked (like tea or cola). This is called serious or Frank hematuria. It takes very little blood in the urine to be visible about one fifth of a teaspoon in a half liter of urine.

However, clarifies that hematuria has many causes. Blood in the urine can come from any condition that results from infection, inflammation or injury of the urinary tract. Also, in general, microscopic hematuria indicates damage to the upper urinary tract (kidneys), while visible blood indicates damage to the bottom of the tube (ureter, bladder or urethra). But this is not always the case.

The most common causes of hematuria in persons under 40 years of age are kidney stones or urinary tract infections. This may occur in the elderly as well, but cancers of the kidney, bladder, prostate and has become a more common concern among people aged over 40 years. Not one of these conditions, but several conditions causing hematuria may exist at the same time.

Sometimes, no cause is found for blood in the urine. If serious conditions such as cancer, kidney disease and other chronic diseases that cause kidney damage or bleeding are excluded, the cause is usually not severe. Hematuria probably disappear by itself or continue to be a chronic condition, without harm. Any changes should immediately trigger a return visit and evaluation by your health care provider.

Among the causes of hematuria are serious, others not. Your healthcare professional conduct tests to help make a difference. It is important that you seek medical help as soon as possible.

Similarly, some well-known causes of blood in the urine of kidney stones, urinary tract infections or genital cancer.