Dr Varinder Attri – Urologist, Andrologist and Laparoscopic surgeon

Passing blood in urine, otherwise called hematuria, is relatively common in patients visiting to urology clinic. There are enormous reasons in which a person can have visible red urine, called gross hematuria. Few persons are unaware of passing blood in urine and only got to know about it when they get urine test done, which shows blood cells in it; known as microhematuria.

There are many benign reasons of having gross hematuria. The most common among them include urinary tract infection (UTI), renal stone disease, enlarged prostate gland in men etc. Among the reasons which are more worrisome include urological malignancy such as bladder cancer, prostate cancer and kidney cancer. Presence of associated symptoms along with hematuria help in clinically segregating patients into different categories. Here we will read more about patients passing blood in urine due to bladder cancer.

The most common and one of the early feature of bladder cancer is blood in urine, which is generally painless. It often comes in clots which can be fine or large amorphous type of clots. Bladder cancer is more common in men with age more than 60 years and history of tobacco consumption. Hematuria is generally present when tumor has grown to a certain size.

Other symptoms of the disease depends upon the extent of disease. Patients with localised disease can have dysuria (burning micturition), increased frequency of micturition. Patients in whom the tumor has grown beyond the bladder can present with symptoms of backache (bony spread), flank pain (kidney swelling due to obstruction), loss of appetite, loss of weight etc. Patients in whom the cancer has spread to bones can present with bony fractures. Spread to lungs can cause cough which is often without expectoration.

Bladder cancer is one of most aggressive type of urological cancer and its timely detection and treatment is very important. Detection at early stage provide the best results in terms of symptoms and longevity. However late and advanced disease often portend poor prognosis.