UNUSUAL COLOR OF URINE AND SERUM, SHOULD ONE INVESTIGATE THE CAUSE OR NOT?

Abstract

Laboratory diagnosis has become the cornerstone for all clinical diagnosis and treatment, with the advent of genetic workups like DNA sequencing and FISH prognosis of diseases also coming under the umbrella of lab tests. However, the time-tested methods for the analysis of samples before processing (which in the era of accreditation comes under the pre-analytical phase) are still very important in suspecting if not diagnosing disorders apart from preventing pre-analytical errors because of hemolysis, lipemia, QNS, mislabeling, etc. A Yellow serum sample in a rack of tubes is quite common in the laboratory which suggests hyperbilirubinemia. We here like to report a case of 12 years old female child who presented for routine blood and urine testing as she was suffering from low grazed fever, abdominal pain, and loose stool. One look per se the picture favors an infective etiology. But on a collection of specimens the serum turned out to be greenish and the urine too was dark green in color (Fig 1&2) So the questions that we tried to answer by this article are what caused this change in plasma color? what other conditions could cause blood discoloration? And are there concerns or possible interference with laboratory tests? On reviewing the literature, we came across various causes of green discoloration of urine, and interferences encountered routinely which we have discussed in our article. On follow up the child was all right after treatment and has no further episodes of such discoloration