[Morphologic changes in urine erythrocytes in interference contrast microscopy as an indication of the source of microhematuria]

Abstract

According to Birch and Fairley (1, 2, 3) it is possible to differentiate glomerular from nonglomerular microhematuria by red cell morphology. Using an interference contrast microscope we examined urine sediments of 85 patients characterized by a microhematuria with more than 8000 red cells/ml urine. Examination of 31 patients with glomerular disease and 27 patients with nonglomerular disease yielded a correlation of 83.5 and 88% respectively between our results and the verified cause of microhematuria. In contrast red cell morphology did not prove any diagnostic favour in 27 patients with renal transplantation.