The Clinical Use of Routine Urinalysis

Lee, Seung Joo

doi:2013.17.2.35

J Korean Soc Pediatr Nephrol > Volume 17(2); 2013 > Article

Review Article

J Korean Soc Pediatr Nephrol 2013;17(2): 35-41. doi: https://doi.org/10.3339/jkspn.2013.17.2.35

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이승주

이화의학전문대학원 소아청소년과

The Clinical Use of Routine Urinalysis

Seung Joo Lee

Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding Author: Seung Joo Lee ,Tel: 02-2650-5032, Fax: 02-2653-3714, Email: sjoolee@ewha.ac.kr

Received: September 13, 2013; Accepted: October 6, 2013.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http:// creativecommons. org/licenses/bync/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Routine urinalysis is a simple, economical, and useful test that facilitates the detection of urinary system diseases and monitoring of renal disease progression. It consists of 4 parts of specimen evaluation, gross examination, a dipstick urinalysis, and a sediment microscopic urinalysis. Urine specimens should first be evaluated in terms of acceptability, and thereafter, the gross appearance is examined for color, turbidity, and odor. In particular, a dipstick urinalysis is an easy and rapid test that provides information on the multiple physicochemical properties of the urine sample. Moreover, although a sediment microscopic urinalysis is time-consuming, it provides information on the cells, microorganisms, casts, and crystals. In the present report, the clinical significance of the routine urinalysis and the problems concerning interpretation are summarized.

Key words: Urine specimen | Gross appearance | Dipstick urinalysis | Microscopic urinalysis