The Case of the Missing Casts
A 50 y/o woman presents with symptoms of fatigue and malaise for 1-2 weeks. Medications include ACE, HCTZ, and a multivitamin daily. She had a UTI 6 weeks ago that did not improve after a 5 day course…
A 50 y/o woman presents with symptoms of fatigue and malaise for 1-2 weeks. Medications include ACE, HCTZ, and a multivitamin daily. She had a UTI 6 weeks ago that did not improve after a 5 day course…
To stain, or not to stain, that is the question. Different illumination techniques are available to visualize the formed elements in the urinary sediment. The two most commonly used are brightfield and phase contrast. Brightfield illumination provides high…
As we have covered before, RBC casts most often signify the presence of glomerulonephritis while WBC casts are indicative of an inflammatory process affecting the glomeruli or interstitium. Sometimes, casts can be seen which contain both red and…
Although it remains a polarizing topic, looking at urine has come a long way since the dark ages before wide availability of renal biopsy. Not just a passing phase, modern urine microscopy allows the bright nephrologist to readily…
Damage to the glomerular basement membrane allows plasma lipids to enter the urinary space. These lipids may appear in various forms, either as free lipid droplets, lipid casts, oval fat bodies, and/or as cholesterol crystals. In most cases,…
Several drugs, mainly antimicrobial or antiviral agents, can cause transient crystalluria, in isolation or in conjunction with other urinary abnormalities and a wide range of clinical implications. The factors favoring the formation of drug crystals are drug overdose,…
This is a fictional case, designed for educational purposes The Case The patient is a 66 year-old with a history of hypertension who presented with complaints of fatigue and recurrent “sinus infections” over the past few months. He…
In order to interpret your findings after collecting and preparing a urine specimen for microscopy you must obtain a high quality image. If you are not able to clearly see what you’re examining, it may be quite difficult…
White blood cells (WBC’s) in the urine may occur as a result of infection or inflammation anywhere in the urinary tract and the segmented polymorphonuclear neutrophil is the type most often encountered. These WBC’s are identified by the…
Red Blood Cell (RBC) Casts:RBC casts (Fig. 1) are an important finding in the urinary sediment and most often signify the presence of a proliferative glomerulonephritis or vasculitic process. Although less common, RBC casts may also be seen…