Measurement of glomerular filtration rate in children after renal transplantation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to compare methods of measuring GFR in the follow-up of children after renal transplantation. The results indicate that while the predicted GFR remains useful as a rough estimate of GFR, it is significantly less precise than the standard or infusion clearance methods in the follow-up of children after renal transplantation. EDTA GFR overestimates GFR measured by standard methods in patients with C(Io)>40 ml/min but agrees well when function is below this level; it is likely that changes in GFR in a particular patient would be reliably detected by this method. However, C(Cr), performed as describe above, is the simplest of the formal clearance methods examined, involving little or no loss of accuracy when compared with C(In) and C(Io), and is recommended as the method of choice in clinical transplant care.