When seeing a doctor, patients with kidney disease are usually to be asked
about their serum creatinine and Glomerulus Filtration Rate (GFR). Both of the
two parameters are important to patients with kidney disease. This article will
introduce more information about that.
As an end product of muscle metabolism, creatinine is excreted solely by the
kidneys. Its production rate is proportional to the patient's muscle mass and
is, therefore, relatively stable over time. In adults, the normal range for
plasma creatinine is 0.8 to 1.3 mg/dL (70 to 114 mmol/L) in men and 0.6 to 1.0
mg/dL in women. However, a creatinine level of 1.4 may represent normal renal
function in a muscular man but may represent markedly decreased function in a
cachectic person.
To some degree, serum creatinine can indicate renal function. Mostly, the
higher the serum creatinine is, the less the renal function left. Therefore,
doctors and patients try to lower serum creatinine by many ways.
There are three main ways for lowering high serum creatinine. Firstly,
patients can choose western medicines. It is a kind of carbon plate in clinic.
The tablet can absorb creatinine, then make the creatinine removed with
digestion. Secondly, If the creatinine level reaches 2.0 or more in babies and
10.0 or more in adults, that is, the people have severe kidney impairment,
dialysis treatment is urgently needed. Finally, the effective way is treat
kidney disease. After kidney function improves, serum creatinine can be lowered
naturally.
As for the renal function, we still need talk about GFR. Creatinine excretion
can be used to estimate the GFR because creatinine is freely filtered at the
glomerulus and is not reabsorbed. However, tubular secretion of creatinine does
occur; although not clinically significant when renal function is normal, it
accounts for an increasingly greater percentage of urinary creatinine as serum
creatinine concentrations increase. As the true GFR falls to 40 mL/min (as
measured by inulin clearance), the absolute amount of creatinine secreted can
rise by more than 50%, accounting for as much as 35% of urinary creatinine.
Blood Urea Nitrogen, Creatinine Clearance, age, gender and so on can affect GFR.
So, GFR can indicate the stages of chronic kidney disease. If patients with
kidney disease want to improve renal function, it is also improve their GFR.
If you still have some questions about serum creatinine and GFR, you can mail
me: kidney-treatment@hotmail.com or call me +86-311-86954186.
