Physiology of the Kidney Flashcards
How much blood enters the kidney every minute?
1200 ml blood enters both kidneys each minute
This is 20% of total cardiac output
How much blood is purified by the kidneys in one day?
How much urine does this produce?
1700 litres of blood is purified by the kidneys in 1 day
This produces 1.5 - 2 litres of urine
What is glomerular filtration rate used for?
It is a measurement of kidney function
What is normal glomerular filtration rate?
100-120 ml/min/1.73m2
What does accurate measurement of GFR require?
The injection of a radioactive tracer
e.g. technetium
What is creatinine clearance used to measure?
Where does creatinine come from?
It is an estimation of glomerular filtration rate
Creatinine is released from muscle at a relatively constant rate
What happens to creatinine in the kidneys?
Why is creatinine clearance not entirely accurate
It is filtered by the kidneys
But there is some secretion into the filtrate by the proximal tubule
As creatinine clearance is rarely used in clinical practice, what is used instead?
- blood tests
2. 24-hour urine collection
What is serum creatinine used to measure?
Why?
It measures kidney function
Creatinine will accumulate in kidney disease
What are the drawbacks of using serum creatinine to measure kidney function?
- it is not specific for the site of injury
2. there is a delay in serum creatinine rise following AKI
Where does creatinine come from?
What does serum creatinine involve?
It is released by the muscles and removed by kidneys
Serum creatinine is a simple blood test
What is normal serum creatinine for males and females?
Male - 64-104 micromol/L
Female 60 - 93 micromol/L
What is eGFR?
What is it used instead of?
estimated glomerular filtration rate
It is used instead of creatinine clearance
It is used alongside serum creatinine
What factors are taken into account when calculating eGFR?
- age of patient
- sex of patient
- ethnicity
- serum creatinine
What does eGFR correlate with?
It correlates with the % of kidney function
e.g. eGFR = 50
This means 50% kidney function
At what eGFR will patients need to commence dialysis?
eGFR < 10 ml/min/1.73m2
What happens to kidney function by the time creatinine rises above 104 micromol/L in males?
50% of kidney function has been lost by this stage