Asymptomatic microhematuria: An indication of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia?

ABSTRACTPurpose: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a genetic angiodysplasia affecting multiple organs. Clinical manifestations include spontaneous and recurrent epistaxis, mucocutaneous telangiectases that bleed easily and arteriovenous malformations in many organs. Despite the anecdotal recommendations of some groups, to our knowledge information regarding the prevalence of microscopic hematuria (MH) in patients with HHT has not been reported to date. We evaluated the prevalence of MH in patients with HHT.Materials and Methods: Between January 2002 and June 2003, 116 consecutive patients with HHT were studied, of whom 20 were excluded because of a possible false-positive MH bias. Therefore, 53 males and 43 females with a mean age ± SD of 45.8 ± 15.8 years who had HHT underwent urine dipstick testing for heme and microscopic urinary examination. A control group of 192 males and 148 females with a mean age of 46.5 ± 14.2 years and no statistical age or sex differences without HHT who were hosp...