Urine Analysis Shows Occ For Epithelial Cells. What Does It Mean?

Posted on Fri, 7 Sep 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 8 Sep 2012 Answered on

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi. I had a urinalysis and the epithelial cells result is occ. can u tell me what this means

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (6 hours later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Epithelial cells in urine are present all the time and there is nothing to worry about. As whole urinary bladder is covered by epithelium from inside, and this cells when old gets removed and changed by new cells, this old cells are eliminated with urine. This is the normal process. Such cells may also come from other urinary tract as well as from vagina.
So if you do not suffer from any symptoms like abdominal pain, burning when urinating, frequent urinating, there is no leukocytes or erythrocytes in urine, there is nothing to worry about.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (22 minutes later)

Thank you for your answer. I don't have any burning when urinating. I did also have a trace of rbc in the urine 4-6 and am not expecting my period for another 2 weeks. I also had a trace in blood 3 months ago on my last urinalysis. Should I see a urologist

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (4 minutes later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

There might be a trace of RBC in every urine sample. It is quite common as well as epithelial cells presence. So again if you don't have any symptoms I have mentioned, there is nothing to worry about.
RBC sometimes are present when there is an infection in urinary tract or when there are some stones, but this is associated with abdominal pain and WBC are present as well.

Hope this will help.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar