[Hematuria: current strategies]

Clinical history and examination are essential in order to correctly guide the sequence of complementary investigations. First-line examinations are urine culture, KUB and ultrasonography, bearing in mind that the two main causes to be investigated are renal stones and tumours. Depending on the results of this first series of examinations, abdominopelvic CT-scan and vesical endoscopy, performed under local anaesthesia as an outpatient procedure, generally establish the aetiological diagnosis. MRI may usefully complete CT data in some cases of renal tumours. Lastly, more invasive techniques such as arteriography, retrograde ureteropyelography and ureteroscopy are much less frequently required for diagnostic purposes.