[Capacities of examination of renal function at excretory urography]

The study was undertaken to enhance the diagnostic capacities of excretory urography in evaluating renal function, by determining the renal clearance of a contrast medium. The main task of the study was to develop bloodless and rather reliable ways of estimating the volume of the body's distributed contrast medium and its urinary concentration in the patient at urography. Excretory urography was performed in 248 patients aged 12 to 75 years. The specific gravity of excreted urine was determined with a standard laboratory urometer to 0.001 g/cm3. Absoption spectrophotometry was used to determine the serum concentration of contrast medium in 67 patients. The values of concentrations were plotted in the semilogarithmic ordinate system, followed by extrapolation of the initial segment of the plot to the so-called zero point determining the value of the concentration of contrast medium at the moment of its complete distribution in the intercellular space. The derived value was compared with the medium's dose coming into the body, which made it possible to determine the degree of dilution of the substance, i.e. the volume of its distribution in the organism. There was a linear relationship between the concentrations of renally eliminated contrast medium and the specific gravity of excreted urine. The numerical value of the constant reflecting this relationship is equal to 6. There was evidence for that such studies could be made by routine urometry. A high correlation was found between the body mass and the volume of distribution of contrast medium in the intercellular space. The discovery of the above regularities permitted the procedure for measuring the values of two most important physiological renal process (glomerular filtration and trabecular water reabsorption) to be simplified and widely available. The paper outlines the great promises for using excretory urography as a scanning functional test during a primary study and a follow-up of the patient's status.