Another pigment in the urine

This is apropos of the article by Dr. Thomas E. Cone, Jr., "Diagnosis and Treatment: Some Syndromes, Diseases, and Conditions Associated with Abnormal Coloration of the Urine or Diaper" (Pediatrics, 41:654. 1968). Recently we have noted a blue-green discoloration of urine during the first 3 to 4 days of life from infants whose mothers had received intravenous methylene blue in conjunction with propitocain hydrochloride (Citanest registered) an anesthetic agent used for caudal anesthesia. Since this anesthetic agent is capable of producing methemoglobinemia, a number of obstetricians routinely administer 1 to 2 mg per kilogram of a 1% solution of methylene blue to the mother intravenously and this produces a blue-green color to the infant's urine.