We recorded initial symptoms and evaluated the frequency and intensity of hematuria in patients with newly diagnosed bladder cancer. We also evaluated and compared the sensitivity of bladder wash cytology, NMP22 (Matritech, Newton, Massachusetts), BTA Stat (Bion Diagnostic Sciences, Redmond, Washington) and UBC antigen (IDL Biotech, Sollentona, Sweden) with hematuria dipsticks and flow cytometry for determining the size of erythrocytes in urine. Urine samples were collected from 92 patients with newly diagnosed bladder cancer, 64 with idiopathic microhematuria and 42 with nephritis. Urine was analyzed for NMP22, BTA Stat, UBC and erythrocytes size using flow cytometry. Bladder wash cytology was done at cystoscopy. Urine was analyzed for microhematuria with hematuria dipsticks at home for 7 consecutive days immediately before the operation and in the hospital on the day of surgery. Sensitivity was 75% for NMP22, 78% for BTA Stat, 64% for UBC and 61% for flow cytometry at 73% specificity. Cytology had 42% sensitivity at 97% specificity. Tumor size, grade and stage had a statistically significant influence on NMP22, BTA Stat, UBC and cytology. Of the patients 75% had microhematuria on the day of the operation and 75% had hematuria at least 1 of 7 days when tested at home the last week before transurethral bladder resection. The 70% of all patients with macroscopic hematuria as the initial symptom did not seem to differ from those without the condition in tumor size, grade, stage or tumor marker levels. Flow cytometry was not well enough able to distinguish patients with bladder cancer from controls. The sensitivity of all tested markers, including hematuria dipsticks, was high for large and high grade, high stage tumors. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether a marker could be used to determine priority among patients referred due to microhematuria.