Blood in Semen?

[G8 GT]

Has anyone else had issues of blood in their ejaculate?  I recently noticed small spots of bright red blood in my ejaculate.  I have never seen it there before.  Perhaps it is from the cystoscopy I had last week?  It appears it can also be a symptom of prostatitis.  That would not surpirse me considering the way the symptoms move and change!

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

Hematospermia is a nonspecific and generally asymptomatic sign that usually occurs in younger men.

Hematospermia often leads to prostate biopsy, which on only one occasion that I am aware of led to a diagnosis of prostate cancer. That was in a 30-year old man -- who worked in a prostate biopsy pathology lab, of all places -- who we later discovered had a mild form of thallasemia, a bleeding disorder. Indeed, after his LRP (see below), he kept bleeding, which is when we diagnosed his thallasemia, and this caused him to recall that he had had prolonged bleeding after dental cleaning, minor bumps ... etc. In any event, I did his LRP for what turned out to be multifocal Gleason 6 adenocarcinoma. He's about two years out now and doing well.

Your hematospermia is unexplained. It's not clear that it's a sign of prostatitis.

[Luke]

I think its a symptom of acute prostatitis but shouldn't happen with chronic prostatitis.
Its probably from the cystoscopy

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

Cystoscopy does sometimes cause some mild hematuria: Blood in the urine.I have never seen it cause hematospermia.

Technical note: A symptom is something you feel (nausea, itch) and a sign is something you see (palor, rash). Hematospermia is a sign, not a symptom.

[G8 GT]

Thank you for the clarification of symptoms versus sign Dr. Krongrad. It seems easy to mistakenly lump those two together.

Fortunately the blood appears to have been a one-time occurance, and I hope it stays that way. The wide-range of symptoms and signs I already have are too much for me to handle!