Objective:

Purple urine bag syndrome is a rare condition. Neither the underlying disease nor the microbiology of those patients has been adequately reported or studied due to the small number of patients and the types of studies published. The aim of the present work was to describe the clinical characteristics of patients with purple urine bag syndrome seen over a one-year period.

Material and methods:

A descriptive study was conducted, within the time frame of March 1, 2016 to February 28, 2017. The clinical characteristics and urine culture results of patients that came to the outpatient consultation of the urology service presenting with purple urine bag syndrome, were analyzed.

Results:

Twenty-three patients were studied. Nineteen percent of the patients were men and the mean patient age was 71.3 years. Five (21.7%) of the patients presented with diabetes mellitus and 4 (17.3%) with high blood pressure. Only 3 (13%) patients presented with a symptom associated with urinary infection. The most prevalent pathogen in the urine cultures was Klebsiella pneumoniae in 7 (30.4%) of the patients, followed by Escherichia coli. Two patients presented with recurrence, but they had no symptoms or comorbidities.

Limitations:

Study limitations were its retrospective design and the descriptive statistical analysis.

Conclusion:

Based on the study population and findings, we believe purple urine bag syndrome is a clinical finding that presents in patients of both sexes that are chronic users of urinary catheters, and is most likely benign, given that a low percentage of patients present with symptoms. However, as stated in the literature, it is recommendable to change the catheter and bag, as well as to perform urine cultures and administer empiric antibiotic therapy in the patients that present with symptoms, to prevent later complications.

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