Max Lab
Nov 16, 2022
The elimination of waste products, toxins, and excessive water from the body through urination is important for a range of bodily functions. Urine is produced in the kidneys and stored in the bladder until it is time to remove it from the body through urination. Urine contains many clues about a person’s overall health and its colour, odour, and amount can tell a lot about what is going on inside one’s body.
A urine test can involve several tests like the urine routine test, urine culture test, etc. to evaluate the visual, chemical, and microscopic components of a urine sample. The tests generally use a single urine sample to detect and measure numerous components in the urine.
There are several reasons why a healthcare practitioner may prescribe a urine test, like blood in the urine, as a part of a regular full body health check-up, etc. The purpose of a urine test can include:
Before understanding what can be detected in a urine test, it is important to know about the most common types of urine tests and their purpose.
A urine culture is a test that is performed to detect the presence of bacteria in the urine. This test can help detect and identify microorganisms that may be responsible for urinary tract infections (UTIs). Infections of the urinary tract are most often caused by bacteria that enter the urinary system through the urethra. The bacteria proliferate quickly in the environment, leading to the development of an infection.
A Urinalysis involves various tests that generally check different aspects of a urine sample, including its appearance and colour, chemical properties, and a microscopic evaluation. Other common types of urine tests are generally included within the chemical properties’ evaluation part of the urinalysis.
Allowing for the diagnosis of several prevalent health conditions, offering an insight into one’s overall health, providing information that can help understand the cause behind unexplained symptoms, and coming up with a huge list of what can be detected in a urine test; there is no denying that the Urine Test is quite important.
One of the main purposes of a urine test is to diagnose various diseases to ensure proper treatment can be provided. Following are the five most common infections that can be detected with urine tests: -
Generally caused by the E. Coli bacteria, UTIs are quite common among men as well as women. Symptoms of UTIs may include a burning sensation during urination or sexual intercourse, blood in the urine, or a strong odour of urine.
As the kidneys play a major role in the production and elimination of urine from the body, any damage, disease, or condition that affects the kidneys will also affect the urine. That is why a urine test for kidney function is commonly prescribed if one shows symptoms of the same or if they have high-risk factors for developing kidney diseases.
A urine test is a popular screening technique for certain cancers, like that of the bladder, ureter, or kidney. Urine tests can detect cancer in the body at an early stage.
Urine tests can help detect catecholamines in cases where hypertension is being caused by excessive hormone production, thereby helping diagnose conditions like pheochromocytoma.
The presence of organisms that can lead to the development of sexually transmitted infections and diseases can be detected with routine urine tests.
The list of issues and of what can be detected in urine tests is never-ending which makes urine tests quite an important tool in a doctor’s arsenal.
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