Parasite eggs in urine cytology: fact or artifact?

2008

Urine sediment cytology should be done for three main reasons: initial evaluation in symptomatic patients, pursuit of patients with tumoral pathology, and risk population screening. Nevertheless, in the course of microscopic observation it is possible to observe several elements or structures that initially seem unrelated to what we are looking for. Schistosomiasis is an endemic disease affecting humans and animals in tropical countries and the Middle and Far East, but infrequent in the developed countries. Typical eggs from Schistosoma are nonoperculate, embryonated when passed in feces and with transparent shell. The eggs are elongate and large in S. mansoni (114–175 3 40– 70 lm in size),…