Urinalysis Diagnosis

A diagnosis allows a doctor or medical professional to determine a correct course of treatment or medication. Therefore, a proper diagnosis is imperative to the process of healing and recovery. Although numerous tests can also provide the necessary information, a urinalysis is often the first step to obtaining information about a patient's condition.

Significance

• A proper diagnosis will show the potential or presence of bodily diseases. It should be a non-invasive procedure that gives medical professionals significant insight into any infections or complications affecting the body. A urinalysis diagnosis is obtained in three separate ways: a visual examination, a dipstick test and a microscopic exam.

Visual Examination

• A doctor or nurse obtains their first diagnosis from looking at a patient's urine. A bodily infection typically causes urine to cloud, resulting in a milky or hazy appearance. An abnormal odor may also be indicative of an internal problem. Blood that has leaked into the bladder causes urine to appear red or brown and may indicate the presence of internal bleeding or trauma.

Dipstick Test

• A dipstick is a thin plastic stick with chemical strips. These strips change color according to the presence or absence of certain substances in urine. For example, abnormal amounts of acid in urine may indicate kidney failure. Any detection of sugar in urine is cause to inspect for diabetes. Blood in the urine may mean that an individual has kidney stones, blood disorders or cancer. Bilirubin is a substance that indicates the breakdown of red blood cells. Its presence in urine may be associated with liver damage or disease.

Microscopic Exam

• Examining urine under a microscope may reveal the presence of cellular debris, bacteria and crystals. Any of these is typically cause enough for further testing and examination. For example, tube-shaped proteins, known as casts, in urine may be associated with kidney failure. Crystals are generally indicative of kidney stones. The presence of epithelial cells (cells that line hollow organs) in urine may be a sign of internal tumors. However, epithelial cells in urine more often mean that a urinalysis has been contaminated somehow and needs to be redone from the beginnning.

Warning

• A urinalysis is not usually 100 percent accurate in determining the presence of an internal complication or infection. The diagnosis a doctor receives from a urinalysis is usually grounds for further testing, and nothing more. Heed your doctor's advice, as abnormalities in a urinalysis may be enough to merit a change in medication.