ANALYSIS OF 895 CONSULTATIONS FOR HEMATUR IA IN AN EMERGENCY UROLOGY UNIT

Objective: To study efficacy of our diagnostic approach in patients wi th haematuria, as well as the information provided by the different te sts. Patient and methods: The computerization of our emergency departm ent, and the study of the data base have permitted us to study retrosp ectively 722 cases of hematuria seen at our center over a period of 10 months. The relation between the benign or malignant etiology of the hematuria, and the presence or absence of associated symptoms and the intensity of the hematuria is shown, as well as the relation between t he intensity of the hematuria and the decrease in the hemoglobin rates detected. Results : Fifty eight percent of the 722 patients, 39% of t hem due to neoplasm. The intensity of had one symptom only hematuria w as significantly superior in the patients with the final diagnosis of neoplams. The accomplishment of reactive strip, basic imaging techniqu es and urine sediment has permittted in our series to direct the diagn osis in 67,3% of patients. Cystoscopy has shown great efficacy in diag nosing the cases of monosymptomatic hematuria with normal radiological studies. Conclusion: Monosymptomatic hematuria deserves a work-up to rule out malignancy. Reactive strip, urine sediment, KUB and ultrasono graphy allow to direct the diagnosis in most cases.