Bilirubin - urine

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Male urinary system

Overview

Risks

Results

Bilirubin - urine

Alternative Names:

Conjugated bilirubin-urine; Direct bilirubin-urine

Normal Values:

Bilirubin is not normally found in the urine.

What abnormal results mean:

If the bile ducts are obstructed, direct bilirubin will build up to a high enough level that some of it will escape from the liver into the blood. If the levels are high enough, some of it will also appear in the urine. Only direct bilirubin appears in the urine. Increased direct bilirubin usually means that the biliary (liver secretion) ducts are obstructed.

Increased urinary bilirubin may indicate:

biliary strictures
cirrhosis
gallstones in the biliary tract
hepatitis with associated biliary obstruction
surgical trauma affecting the biliary tract
tumors of the liver or gall bladder

Review Date: 5/17/2005
Reviewed By: Nikheel S. Kolatkar, MD, Clinical and Research Fellow, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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