Detail Description
URIC ACID TEST
What are the other names for this test?
Serum urate, Uric acid, Serum and urine, UA
What is the uric acid test?
A
uric acid test helps to measure the amount of uric acid in your blood or urine. Uric acid is one of the waste materials in your body. It produces when your body breaks down a chemical substance called purines. When the body cells die, they release purines into the blood. Purines are available in some foods, such as seafood, dried beans, liver, and shellfish. Most of the uric acid is present in your blood. Your kidneys filter the uric acid from your blood. The higher amount of uric acid excretes from your body through your urine. The remaining uric acid eliminates in the stool.
The deposition of high uric acid levels in your blood can develop painful needle-like crystals in your joints (synovial) fluid. This condition is known as gout. Gout is a type of inflammatory arthritis that leads to painful swelling in your joints. High uric acid levels in your blood may indicate kidney stones (solid substances develop from minerals and salts) or kidney damage.
What is the purpose of this test?
The uric acid blood test indicates and monitors the uric acid levels when undergoing cancer treatment by chemotherapy or radiation. These treatments help to kill cancer cells and result in the formation of large amounts of purines in the blood. Therefore, uric acid levels increase, which may lead to severe complications for health. This test is the way to get treatment early before uric acid levels rise in your body. This test looks for uric acid crystals by examination of joint fluid under a microscope.
The uric acid urine test diagnoses the reason for repeated kidney stones in the body. This test also monitors gout disease for the development of stones in people.
When to conduct a uric acid test?
Your healthcare provider may recommend a uric acid blood test when you are at risk of high uric acid levels. You may need to take this test if you have symptoms of gout. Gout can lead to severe pain, redness, and swelling in your joints. These include your toes, ankle, wrists, knee, feet, and specifically, your big toe (the fore end of a foot).
Your provider may also ask to schedule an online order for a
uric acid urine test when you have signs and symptoms of kidney stone that include:
- The urine comes with blood.
- Nausea and vomiting
- Smell or cloud in the urine
- Increased urge to urinate
- Fever
- Chills
- Pain in your body parts, such as the lower abdomen, side, back, and groin (a portion of your hip between your abdominal and thigh).
- Burn or pain while urinating.
- Difficulty urinating at all.
A
uric acid urine test determines the chance of producing kidney stones if you have gout disease.
What is the procedure for this test?
A
uric acid test may require a blood test or a urine test. Your healthcare provider will guide you about the sample you need to provide.
You will need to give your blood sample to your provider for a uric acid blood test. The steps include:
- A small needle will inject into a vein in your arm to collect a blood sample into a test tube.
- Your blood sample will store in the laboratory you have selected for examination.
- A bandage will cover the vein where the needle injects. Regular activities may resume after the test.
- This test finishes in under five minutes.
For a uric acid urine test, a 24-hour urine sample requires. Your provider will ask you to collect all your urine for 24 hours. A container will provide to collect your urine with proper instructions. Your provider will inform you when to collect your urine. This test usually has the listed steps:
- First, you will urinate in the toilet on the first day of the morning. Flush this urine. Note the time when you urinate.
- Collect urine in the sample container for the next 24 hours.
- You will need to store your urine sample in a refrigerator or a cool place.
- Try to urinate in the container if you feel it after the 24-hour test period, which is the final test collection.
- You can provide your urine sample to the laboratory where you have placed an online order for this test.
How do I need to prepare for this test?
Your provider will not ask for specific preparation for a
uric acid test. You can inform your provider about medicines, vitamins, and supplements you use. Some medicine like niacin (vitamin-3) may affect your test results. You do not need to stop taking the medication without permission from your doctor.
Are there any risks in the uric acid test?
A uric acid test does not have a risk from a urine sample. For a
uric acid blood test, you may experience low pain at the point of your vein where the needle injects. The other low risks may include bleeding, light-headed feeling, and infection, which disappear in less time.
What do the uric acid test results indicate?
The
uric acid test results may consist of a blood or a urine report.
Low uric acid levels in the blood are not a concern for a person and do not lead to health problems.
High uric acid levels (hyperuricemia) in a blood test may occur due to
- A large amount of uric acid produces by your body.
- Lack of ability of kidneys to release enough uric acid from the body.
- Intake of foods that contain high levels of purines, including red meat, organ meat, liver, kidney, seafood, alcohol, and high fructose syrup.
High uric acid levels may also indicate these conditions, such as:
- Kidney disease
- Gout
- Medical side effects from cancer treatments with radiation or chemotherapy.
- Excessive alcohol intake
- Leukemia (cancer of blood cells) or multiple myeloma.
- Preeclampsia - a condition that may lead to a severe increase in blood pressure for pregnant women.
Low uric acid levels in urine may show kidney disease, excessive alcohol use, and lead poisoning (lead deposition in the body).
High uric acid levels in urine may appear due to the following conditions, including
- Overweight
- Presence of kidney stones.
- Gout disease
- Leukemia or multiple myeloma
- A family history of a genetic condition like Lesh-Nyhan syndrome (a disease of metabolic disorder that develops in boys before birth)
You don’t always have a medical problem if uric acid levels are higher in urine or blood. Sometimes it may occur due to the use of specific medicines. People without health problems may also have high uric acid levels in their blood. Understand your
uric acid test results through an online discussion with a
consultant.