Hematuria

What causes hematuria?

There are at least 50 different causes of hematuria in children. Many of these causes don't involve the urinary tract, such as menstrual bleeding, strenuous exercise or irritation of the urethra (the hole where urine comes out).

Here are some causes that do involve the urinary tract:

• urinary tract infections
• vesicoureteral reflux
• kidney or urinary tract stones
• hypercalciuria (large amounts of calcium in the urine)
• trauma to the urinary tract
• ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) obstruction
• Ureterovesical junction (UVJ) obstruction
• vascular anomalies
• kidney or bladder disease
• genitourinary tumors

What are the symptoms of hematuria?

Hematuria itself doesn't have any other symptoms other than the identification of red urine, in the case of gross hematuria. However, the conditions that cause hematuria may produce symptoms. For example, if the cause is a urinary tract infection, your child may complain of urinary frequency or burning urination. Hematuria caused by urinary stones is often associated with pain from the passage of the stone.

Some underlying conditions, such as vesicoureteral reflux, hypercalciuria, renal vascular abnormalities, UPJ obstruction, UVJ obstruction and tumors may have no symptoms at all.