[The ultrasonographic examination in hematuria. Evaluation of its diagnostic possibilities].

Hematuria is a very frequent clinical occurrence and is connected with a number of genito-urinary diseases. Our present work is aimed at checking the usefulness of ultrasonography (US) in etiological diagnostic of hematuria. 516 patients with hematuria and 1788 controls were included in the present study. Renal and urological diseases were found in 74% of patients with hematuria and in 22.7% of those without. Their prevalence is analogous of the general population for those diseases easily detectable by US, such as cystic and heteroplastic diseases. On the contrary, no correspondence was observed for cases of inflammatory, for which echography has never been a reliable diagnostic tool. Furthermore, US sensitivity, if associated with hematuria, was 93%, specificity was 100%, diagnostic accuracy 99% and predictive value about 100%. Ultrasonography is easy to perform, well tolerated, involves low cost and may therefore be considered as the investigation technique of choice for the study of hematuria.