Simple urine test (SUT)

This test includes determination of the physical properties of urine, its chemical composition and microscopic examination of its sediment.

Physical properties:

Color

Healthy people have straw yellow urine which is normal (depending on the amount of urochrome pigment); however, the color may change due to different coloring substances in food or medicines, which is not a deviation from the standard. In certain conditions of the body, the urine color has its own peculiarities which are:
Red or "meat slop" color can be caused by the possible presence of blood (erythrocytes) in the urine, or due to impaired filtering ability of the kidneys under inflammation, as well as mechanical trauma to the urinary tract.
Dark yellow color occurs due to impaired metabolism of bilirubin (see “bilirubin”) in liver or gallbladder disease.
Blackish color is due to homogentisic acid (congenital alkaptonuria) or melanin in melanoma, melanosarcoma (cancer).
Greenish yellow color is caused by the presence of pus, which means bacterial inflammation in the body.
Dirty brown color occurs when the pH of the urine changes from normal acidic to alkaline.
Urine color like white (not transparent) means a large amount of phosphates in the urine or fat molecules, which is possible in case of traumatic destruction of tissues and fat getting into the kidneys, in diabetes mellitus, as well as in case of parasitic disease such as filariasis.

Transparency

Normal urine is transparent; turbidity is caused by the presence of various cellular elements, salts, and fat droplets in the urine.

Density

Density of the urine varies throughout the day and depends on many factors. Deviations from normal density limits may indicate certain diseases. Density is affected by the amount of organic molecules, salts, and proteins in the urine.
Decrease means chronic renal failure, acute renal tubular damage, non-sugar diabetes.
Increase means diabetes mellitus (due to glucose in urine), glomerulonephritis (protein); or can be caused by taking medication

Chemical properties:

Acid-alkaline balance (pH) of normal urine is slightly acidic (5-6), its change can cause an increased tendency to stone formation.

рН over 7:

Vegetarian diet; elevated potassium (see “Na K Ca ionized”) in the blood; elevated parathyroid hormones; alkaline change in blood pH (metabolic or respiratory alkalosis); urinary infection;

рН under 5:

Decreased blood potassium levels; dehydration; diabetes mellitus; chronic renal failure.

Protein

Protein in the urine is absent or does not exceed 0.002 g/L, sometimes it may appear (proteinuria) after a long protein-containing meal, due to stress, etc.
Proteinuria is of two types: renal and extrarenal. Renal proteinuria is caused by kidney disease when the kidneys' filtration function is impaired to keep protein from leaving the body, which occurs in various inflammatory kidney diseases. Extrarenal proteinuria occurs in diseases of the urinary tract, which anatomically located in the field of the kidneys such as bladder and urethra.

Appearance of glucose (glycosuria) in the urine mainly indicates that the patient has diabetes mellitus.

Ketone bodies appear due to diabetes mellitus as well.

Bilirubin in urine appears due to hepatic jaundice. Bilirubin does not appear in the urine under jaundice caused by excessive destruction of red blood cells.

Urobilinogen is found in the urine indicating liver and gallbladder disease.

Nitrites are formed in the urine only by pathogenic bacteria, therefore, their presence in the urine means inflammatory diseases of the genitourinary tract.

Microscopic examination

Visual determination of urine sediment is one of the most important elements of the examination, due to its great diagnostic value at low financial cost. The following elements may be detected:
Erythrocytes. Although it may be in small numbers in women, the detection of erythrocytes is a very poor diagnostic sign that appears either in mechanical trauma to the genitourinary tract or in serious kidney disease called glomerulonephritis, renal tuberculosis, tumors, chronic renal failure. Possible with an overdose of anti-clotting drugs.
Leukocytes may be present in normal numbers, but a number of leukocytes greater than 5 visible with a microscope indicates inflammation of the urogenital tract.
Squamous epithelium is found in higher numbers in women than in men. Their number increases with inflammation of the urethra or prostate (in men). If the number of squamous epithelium is many times higher than the acceptable norms, it indicates squamous cell cancer

Transitional epithelium is a sign of bladder inflammation or urolithiasis.

Renal epithelium appears in the urine in nephritis, nephrosis, amyloidosis, i.e. kidney diseases.

Cylinders ("compressed cells") mean a reaction of the kidneys to a general infection, intoxication or changes in the kidneys themselves. Different types of cylinders appear depending on the disease:

Hyaline cylinders composed of protein that gets into the urine due to inflammation or congestion.

Epithelial cylinders appear in nephrosis (a group of diseases in which the tubules of the kidneys are affected).

Granular cylinders have the same cause of appearance as epithelial cylinders.

Waxy cylinders mean severe lesions of renal tissue.

Erythrocytic cylinders indicate that the cause of the appearance of blood in the urine is in the kidneys, and not in other parts of the urinary system.

As a rule, salts mean a violation of the kidneys function to regulate the acid-alkaline balance of the urine. Also indicates a predisposition to the occurrence of urolithiasis.