Urinalysis vs. Urine Cytology

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Urinalysis vs. Urine Cytology

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8 Posts

Makaveli
Forum Newbie

Topics: 2
Posts: 5

07/02/04 - 07:15 PM

If the Urinalysis is microscopic, what is the difference between the too?

I recently had both, from the same specimen and the Urinalysis had WBC=0, but urine cytology showed inflammatory cells.

are these not the same?????

What does this imply?

Thanks.

mdwannabe
Forum Guru

Topics: 37
Posts: 1,133

07/03/04 - 01:29 PM

well, UA looks for cell types in urine to dtermine the origin of inflamation or the presence of thereof. Cytology looks for the original cell of the bladder in the urine and examines the normality of its contents and ratios, such nuclear/cytoplasm, etc. basically it will look for Ca changes in the epithelium.

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Makaveli
Forum Newbie

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07/03/04 - 08:57 PM

I see. thanks for the response.

so is it normal to see some inflammatory cells in a cytology? Even though there isnt any in the UA?

from my understanding there is a small amount in all urine. is this the same for RBC too?

Thanks,
Mak

hiwa
Forum Senior

Topics: 15
Posts: 185

07/03/04 - 09:22 PM

In urinalysis u just need alittle amount of urin under the microscop sectioned in cubic millimiters for inflammatory cells, even if u have inflammatory cells to a certain number, this doesnt mean UTI especially if the patient is asymtomatic, so it is not unusual to have normaly inflamm cells.

in cytology it is done only if expect a tumour, as investigation for haematuria for example, and look for neoplastic cells, and again not unusual to see inflammatory cells but it is not possible to determine whether or not the patient has UTI because u not examining the specimen in the cubic millimiter slide

Makaveli
Forum Newbie

Topics: 2
Posts: 5

07/03/04 - 09:39 PM

thanks so much.

makes more sense.

mani
Forum Guru
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07/04/04 - 04:24 PM

u label uti only when the wbcs are more than 100000 [10(5)]

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Makaveli
Forum Newbie

Topics: 2
Posts: 5

07/05/04 - 03:24 PM

"hiwa" wrote:
but it is not possible to determine whether or not the patient has UTI because u not examining the specimen in the cubic millimiter slide

in laymans terms, why does cubic millimeter slide matter? is it more accurate ?

mani
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07/05/04 - 05:08 PM

no its cubic mm (ie ml) of urine

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