Why did this man's urine flip green?

A man's urine turned green after five days in the ICU. Above, an image of the urine collected in a catheter bag.

A particular person’s urine turned green after five days in the ICU. Above, an image of the urine mild in a catheter obtain.

A hospitalized man’s case took a irregular flip when his urine turned a unlit color of green, per a new describe.

Though alarming, the bizarre coloration turned out to be a innocent facet carry out of his treatment.

The 62-one year-faded man had continual obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a innovative lung disease, and he went to the emergency room after having venture breathing for two days, per the describe, published Wednesday (Dec. 2) in The New England Journal of Treatment.

The man had high ranges of carbon dioxide in his blood, a situation that can moreover be life-threatening. The man used to be admitted to the intensive care unit, placed on a ventilator and given a neatly-liked anaesthetic known as propofol.

Five days later, the man’s urine, which used to be being mild in a catheter obtain, turned green.

Inexperienced urine would possibly well maybe merely moreover be attributable to a series of components, alongside side treatment facet outcomes, optimistic infections and liver complications, per the authors, from Weiss Memorial Correctly being facility in Chicago.

In the man’s case, the offender used to be propofol. This treatment is broadly passe for neatly-liked anesthesia, however in uncommon cases, it’s going to flip an particular particular person’s urine green.

Exactly how this discoloration happens is not any longer fully understood. But it absolutely would possibly well maybe merely occur when optimistic breakdown merchandise (metabolites) of propofol are eradicated by the kidneys as an substitute of the liver, per a 2015 describe of a identical case published in the Journal of Scientific & Diagnostic Study. (Propofol is in total metabolized in the liver.) It’s the metabolites that motive the green coloration.

Fortuitously, this discoloration is benign and goes away once the treatment is stopped. Indeed, the man’s urine returned to a fashioned coloration once he used to be taken off propofol, the describe said. He stayed in the properly being center for two weeks and used to be then released to a rehabilitation facility, the describe said.

People’s urine must purchase on an array of colors. In 2019, doctors reported the case of a lady with “purple urine obtain syndrome,” which is the of an uncommon chemical response that would possibly well maybe occur interior catheter baggage, Stay Science previously reported.

In the origin published on Stay Science.