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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffHematuria has no specific treatment. Instead, your doctor will focus on the underlying condition:
- Urinary tract infection. Antibiotics are the standard treatment for urinary tract infections. Symptoms usually subside a few days after you start taking medication, but recurring infections may need multiple or longer therapies.
- Kidney stones. You may be able to pass a kidney stone by drinking large amounts of water and staying active. Talk to your doctor about an appropriate amount of fluids for you. If this doesn't work, your doctor is likely to try more-invasive measures. These include a procedure that uses shock waves to break the stone into small pieces (extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy) and, in some cases, surgery to remove the stone.
- Enlarged prostate. Treatments for an enlarged prostate seek to reduce symptoms and restore normal functioning of the urinary tract. All are effective to varying degrees, and all have some drawbacks. Medications are usually tried first, and they provide long-term relief for many men. When medications don't help, minimally invasive treatments using heat, lasers or sound waves to destroy excess prostate tissue may be tried.
- Kidney disease. Many kidney problems often require treatment. No matter what the underlying cause, the goal is to relieve inflammation and limit further damage to your kidneys.
- Cancer. Though there are a number of treatment options for kidney and bladder cancer, surgery to remove cancerous tissue is often the first choice because the cells are relatively resistant to radiation and most types of chemotherapy. The primary treatment for bladder cancer is surgical resection or complete removal of the bladder. In some cases, surgery may be combined with chemotherapy. In others, the immune system in the bladder is boosted with medications.
- Inherited disorders. Treatments for inherited disorders that affect the kidneys vary greatly. Benign familial hematuria usually doesn't require treatment, for instance, whereas people with severe Alport syndrome may eventually need dialysis — an artificial means of removing waste products from the blood when the kidneys are no longer able to do so. Sickle cell anemia is treated with medications, blood transfusions or, in the best-case scenario, a bone marrow transplant.
References
- Gerber GS, et al. Evaluation of the urologic patient: History, physical examination, and urinalysis. Wein AJ, et al. Campbell-Walsh Urology. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/151836479-3/0/1445/6.html?tocnode=54299533&fromURL=6.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-7216-0798-6..50005-4_96. Accessed July 28, 2009.
- Rose BD, et al. Evaluation of hematuria in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 17, 2009.
- Yun EJ, et al. Evaluation of the patient with hematuria. The Medical Clinics of North America. 2004;88:329.
- Grossfeld GD, et al. Evaluation of asymptomatic microscopic hematuria in adults: The American Urological Association best practice policy - Part I: Definition, detection, prevalence, and etiology. Urology. 2001;57:599.
- Grossfeld GD, et al. Evaluation of asymptomatic microscopic hematuria in adults: The American Urological Association best practice policy - Part II: Patient evaluation, cytology, voided markers, imaging, cystoscopy, nephrology evaluation, and follow-up. Urology. 2001:57:604.
- McDonald MM, et al. Assessment of microscopic hematuria in adults. American Family Physician. 2006;73:1748.
- Mercieri A. Exercise-induced hematuria. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 17, 2009.
