Clinical and chemical urinary diagnosis

Analysis of the quality and composition of urine is probably the oldest known clinical chemistry test. It is currently a routine test in hospitals and doctors' office laboratories as well as in patients' homes for self-testing. About 30,000 urine tests are performed yearly at the Inselspital Bern. The trend is rising.
Using urine test strips, chemical analysis is performed easily and with a minimum of technical requirements. It can be completed by examination of the morphologic elements of the sediment, a simple and necessary test in cases of renal illness.

The advantages of urinalysis are the following:

• Urine is the most accessible material available for biological investigation
• It does not require complicated or expensive technical equipment
• Quick and easy, it provides immediate results with minimal effort
• It can be performed in the doctor's office, in presence of the patient (Point of care) or at the patient's home for self-testing purposes
• It is well suited for screening purposes

This tutorial was created in German and translated into English. For practical reasons, some figure legends and some abbreviations included in the iconography were kept in their original version. The abbreviations are translated into English in the corresponding page(s).

Original text Edgar Peheim und Jean-Pierre Colombo
Adapted par U. Woermann et G. Printzen; english translation M.Rossier and R.Quinone