Green urine: a diagnostic clue

Abstract

In the history of Medicine, physicians often performed gross urine evaluation, including color, consistency and clarity, which they considered useful clues for their clinical diagnosis. In normal conditions, the color of recently eliminated urine varies from pale to dark yellow. In daily clinical practice green urine is a relatively uncommon condition, which more often results of some unsuspected benign and reversible cause as ingestion of a dye substance. Therefore, physicians should avoid stress involving the patient and its family, with clear explanations. Green urine is easily observed at hospital and can yield clues of unsuspected conditions. Clinical images may enhance the suspicion index of the health care workers about them.