THE HIDDEN DANGER IN URINE

For far too many people today, health and wellness take a back seat due to busy and stressful life styles. The experts warn people about the importance of regular check-ups. Urine containing an amount of blood visible to the naked eye should be alarming and an urologist should be consulted at once, before bladder cancer knocks on your door, say the experts.

Prof. Dr. Çağ Çal, Lecturer at Izmir University of Economics Faculty of Health Sciences, stated that a healthy person’s urine contained a small amount of red blood cells, or erythrocytes, but not visible to the naked eye. If your urine has turned reddish or brownish because it has red blood, it may be the messenger of many illnesses, said Prof. Dr. Çal. “Sometimes, urine may contain only a small amount of blood invisible to the naked eye and is only apparent in a laboratory when a urine test is carried out for something else. To detect that bleeding is a very important symptom. Based on the amount of bleeding, sometimes blood clots can be seen. Excessive amount of blood in urine and blood clots may cause urination problems.

Urinary tract stones, lower urinary tract infection, and benign or malignant tumours detected at urinary tract including kidneys, in other words, bladder cancer, may cause a considerable amount of bleeding,” said Prof. Dr. Çal.  

Smokers are under risk!

Prof. Dr. Çağ Çal stated that abdominal pain accompanied with bloody urine was very significant for doctors to make a diagnosis. He said bloody urine was an important symptom especially for smokers, and smokers were subject to bladder cancer 9 times more than non-smokers.

Prof. Dr. Çağ Çal, who indicated bladder cancer was a type of tumour seen in people over 50 and especially in males, stated the following:

“Many patients complain about recurring bloody urine with no pain. Intermittent bleeding prevents seeing a doctor early on. Also, associating lack of water intake and having a cold with intermittent bleeding symptoms delays a visit to the doctor. Hairdressers, dry cleaners, paint, petroleum, plastic, and elastic industry employees are also under the risk due to the chemicals they are exposed to everyday. The illness is diagnosed by tissue samples from the suspected patients. If the patient is diagnosed with bladder cancer, depending on the depth of the tumour in the tissue, further examinations or surgical interventions may be needed as part of the treatment procedure. Bloody urine is an important concern that should not be neglected, and calls for a visit to the urologist.”