What does weak positive urobilinogen mean?

Don't worry too much if urobilinogen is weakly positive. At this time, you should check your liver function again to see if your bilirubin is high. Urobilinogen is one of the items in the qualitative test of bilirubin and is of great clinical significance. Through such a test, it is possible to distinguish between hemolytic jaundice, hepatocellular jaundice, etc. Some normal people may also experience this phenomenon, so don’t worry too much and you can have further examination.

What does weak positive urobilinogen mean?

Urobilinogen should exist in urine. It is produced by intestinal bacteria when bilirubin is excreted into the intestine through bile. It is reabsorbed into the blood and excreted from the body through urine. Therefore, normal people should also have urobilinogen.

It doesn't matter if it doesn't exceed one plus sign. If it exceeds, you can check your liver function to see if the bilirubin is high. Now you don't need to do any further tests and can just live a normal life.

What is Urobilinogen

The urine tribili test includes three test items: urine bilirubin qualitative test, urobilinogen qualitative test and urobilin qualitative test. Urobilinogen bloating (UBG) can be used to differentiate between hemolytic jaundice, hepatocellular jaundice, and obstructive jaundice. Normal human urobilinogen generally has a weak positive reaction. In obstructive jaundice, urobilinogen may be negative; when urobilinogen is negative, urobilinogen should be further tested; when both are negative, it can generally be determined that the patient has complete obstructive jaundice. Increased urobilinogen is more common in hemolytic jaundice and hepatocellular jaundice.

Clinical significance : Jaundice can be divided into three types according to the mechanism of its occurrence: hemolytic jaundice, hepatocellular jaundice and obstructive jaundice. Urine tricholine test is of great significance in diagnosing and differentiating 3 types of jaundice: 1. Positive hepatocellular jaundice, hemolytic jaundice, heart failure, sepsis, scarlet fever, etc. 2. Negative result may indicate obstructive jaundice. At this time, urobilinogen should be further measured. When both are negative, it can generally be determined that the patient has complete obstructive jaundice.

Factors that affect urobilinogen excretion:

About 80% of the bilirubin that enters the blood is bound to plasma proteins, and only a small portion can be filtered out through the glomerulus. Part of it can be reabsorbed in the proximal convoluted tubule, and part of it can be excreted in the distal convoluted tubule. The amount of urobilinogen excreted is related to the following factors:

1. Urine pH In acidic urine, urobilinogen forms undissociated fat-soluble molecules that are easily reabsorbed by the renal tubules, reducing excretion. Alkaline urobilinogen dissociates, increasing its water solubility and increasing excretion.

2. When the source of bilirubin increases, such as hemolysis, the amount of bilirubin discharged into the intestinal cavity with bile increases, the formation of urobilinogen in the intestine increases, and it is reabsorbed into the systemic circulation, and the amount of urobilinogen excreted from the urine increases; conversely, when the amount of bilirubin production decreases, such as anemia, the excretion of urobilinogen decreases.

3. Hepatocyte function When hepatocyte function is damaged, the urobilinogen reabsorbed from the intestine cannot effectively undergo enterohepatic circulation and be excreted with bile, so the amount that escapes into the systemic circulation increases, and the excretion of urobilinogen in the urine also increases.

4. Biliary obstruction Since conjugated bilirubin cannot be discharged into the intestine smoothly, procholine cannot be formed in the intestine, and the procholine excreted in the urine is significantly reduced or even disappears completely. Therefore, the main cause of decreased urobilinogen excretion is bile duct obstruction.