Prevalence of Urologic Disease Among Patients Investigated for Hematuria With CT Urography

The current study evaluated the prevalence of urologic disease among patients with hematuria referred for computerized tomography (CT) urography to determine which patients require investigation with CT urography.

We retrospectively reviewed radiology reports of 1046 CT urograms performed for the indication of microscopic (43.7%) or gross hematuria (56.3%). Urological findings were categorized as negative, benign, or suspicious (pathologically confirmed) for malignancy.

Of 1046 CT urograms performed, 53.5% were negative, 36.4% were benign, and 10% were suspicious for malignancy. The most common benign finding was urolithiasis (22.3%). Overall, urinary tract malignancies were present in 3.6% of patients, and the rate was significantly higher (P < .001) for gross (5.8%) than microscopic hematuria (0.9%). CT urography identified 0.6% patients with upper urinary tract malignancies; the malignancy rate was significantly higher (P = .038) for gross (1%) than microscopic hematuria (0%), and no significant sex (P = 1.00; male = 0.6%, female = 0.6%) or age (P = .600; < 50 years = 0%, ≥ 50 years = 0.7%) differences were observed. Logistic regression revealed that being male was associated with gross hematuria (odds ratio [OR] = 2.92), and that both age and gross hematuria (ORs = 1.06 and 5.13, respectively) were associated with malignancy.

CT urography found no upper urinary tract malignancies in 99.4% of patients presenting with hematuria, including all patients with microscopic hematuria and those with gross hematuria <50 years old. Investigating these subgroups with CT urography may be unnecessary and result in increased patient morbidity and health-care costs.