Friday, October 12, 2007

Purple Urine

A 76-year-old male nursing home resident with dementia and end-stage renal disease who was undergoing hemodialysis was admitted to the hospital after a syncopal episode that occurred during dialysis. When a urinary catheter was placed, purple urine was drained. Read the full story.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There's always something fascinating about oddly coloured urine. On my first clinical round at hospital (incidentally, in urology) a chap came in complaining of very red pee, and inevitably thought it was blood. Only on further history-taking did the houseman find out he'd enjoyed a meal of boiled beetroots the night before.

One more thing to add to the differential, I guess...